Audio of Robert Biswas-Diener at growingbolder.com

Posted on July 28th, 2012 at 5:40 am

Have you ever wished you could be braver, bolder and more courageous? Do you wonder if it's ever possible to overcome your fears and go for it?

Yes, you can, according to best-selling author Robert Biswas-Diener.

He is widely known as the Indiana Jones of positive psychology because his research on happiness has taken him to the remote corners of the world.

In his latest book, "The Courage Quotient: How Science Can Make You Braver," Dr. Biswas-Diener explains what courage is and how you can learn to manage your fears and keep anxiety under control.

Through his extensive travels and research, Dr. Biswas-Diener discovered that courage often means you're not blissfully happy in the moment but it leads you to take the calculated risks to a more positive life.

But why would someone do something that brought them so much fear and anxiety in the first place? That's when he discovered that there are actually two separate processes of courage -- the amount of fear you're experiencing and the amount of willingness you have to act.

Dr. Biswas-Diener says the latter always needs to be greater than the former in order for someone to be courageous.

Find out why he believes fear is a gift to us and keeps us alive and why a the common modern fear of speaking in front of people is exactly the same feeling that our ancestors felt about saber-toothed tigers.

And if courage can be learned, how can you develop more courage? He offers some tips.

Finally, he reveals the scientific proof to once and for all settle the old debate -- do lucky charms really hold any power?