“Courage is knowing it might hurt, and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that’s why life is hard.”

– Jeremy Goldberg

I randomly stumbled on this quote within the week. I found it funny at first, and still do. But somehow, I couldn’t get it off my mind, so I decided I might as well share my thoughts on it on here, and probably get yours too:)

The quote in question is highly subjective and can be seen in different lights and considered from various perspectives. Courage comes in handy in almost all our day-to-day endeavors, and one can be “stupid” on many counts.
(Sidenote: the usage of the word “stupid” in this post is not intended to be offensive. It is only being used in the context of the quote referenced).

That being said, we will be looking at it from the viewpoint of taking action in the face of uncertainty – a subject we discussed extensively in a previous post.

Courage Vs. “Stupidity”

I think it is necessary to define both terms for a better understanding of the context in which we will be applying them.

COURAGE: the ability to do something that frightens one; bravery.
STUPIDITY: behavior that shows a lack of good sense or judgement.

The first thing worthy of note from the definitions above is that they are both related to taking action. Even though they aren’t verbs, they are action words – pun intended:). And although the definition of stupidity indicates that the action is taken on the back of poor judgment, you can’t always tell if your judgment is good or bad until the consequences are revealed… Or can you?

So what then is the difference between a courageous act and a “stupid” one?

It’s difficult to entirely separate the two and there are several arguments as to why, but we’ll try…

I’d like to divide the factors that make an action either stupid or brave into two broad categories. Pre-action (preceding the act) factors that are largely within our control and Post-action factors (results/consequences) that are beyond our control.

Pre-Action Factors

Still within the context of taking (reasonable) risky actions that could either pass as brave or stupid, the primary determinants of which side our actions fall under, come into play even before the deed is done. Factors such as the motives behind the action (as discussed in a previous blog post), timing, amount of information about the task in question, and the given circumstances. Given that the action is constant, these are some of the elements that distinguish a brave move from a stupid one.

Let’s make things more practical.

Take for example starting a business. It is no news that this is a high-risk activity. It can soar pretty well and it can also go south real quick. Now, when is starting a business an act of courage and when can we label it as a stupid decision?

How the Factors play in…

Motive – There exists a wide range of motives for starting a business, but we’ll consider only two. Person A decides to start a business for the sole purpose of making some quick cash and person B is looking to provide some valuable solution to the needs of others in exchange for money. Both can either succeed or fail (even though person A has more tendency to fail in the long run), but in terms of the risk-factor involved, we can brand person A’s move as stupid (based on bad judgment) and person B as brave.

Information – This is the most tricky part. It is easy to tell if a motive is right or wrong if we’re being honest with ourselves, but it’s difficult to tell if we have sufficient information required to undertake a task. This factor also influences the results or consequences that follow in a greater measure. 

Still on our example of starting a business, aside from the general ‘know-how’ of running a business and what is attainable, having sufficient information here encompasses how we relate with the risks involved.

A courageous act considers all the risks involved, acknowledges them, prepares against them, and forges ahead regardless. On the other hand, an action can be rated as “stupid” if the risks are ignored or overlooked. It’s even worse when the risks aren’t even considered at all, and one just plunges into action.

We can go on and on analyzing how we can define a courageous one and a “stupid” one based on other pre-action factors, but I believe you get the gist already…

Post-Action Factors

This category is more external and mostly beyond our control. It’s more on the reactive side. People tend to classify actions as brave or stupid based on the results or consequences of the actions. When we record success over a risky action, it is generally regarded as a brave move. When things don’t go as planned, people are quick to judge our actions as stupid.

Now, these factors are not to be emphasized as they aren’t so important. As long as the pre-action factors are in the right order, every other thing doesn’t really matter. As a matter of fact, you sometimes need to go through the rounds of doing “stupid” things to actually get it right. Testimonials from those who have made marks in their fields often have tales of previous failures that people labeled “stupid”, but it didn’t stop them as long as they had their pre-action factors properly checked.

Summary

It is pretty much difficult to tell apart an act of bravery from a stupid one. There is indeed a thin line between both mostly because the factors that tell both apart are very subjective.

Jeremy Goldberg’s quote stands true in some cases, but then again you can define your actions by yourself by your pre-action approach. As long as you have done your homework in acquiring sufficient information and your motives are proper, go ahead and take action. You are brave!

What’s your take on the quote? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.