Today’s topic is how to have courage in the face of fear.

I recently saw a quote that may already be familiar to many of you.   It is attributed to Nelson Mandela and says “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.   The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” 

Today’s topic is how can you turn your disadvantage into advantage? 

So right now, I am reading a book that Malcolm Gladwell published a few years ago now, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.   In this book, the author explores several real world examples of people who took what seemed to the rest of the world as being dealt a bad hand, but who then used that bad hand and turned it into the best hand one could ever hope to get.    He posits the idea that without dyslexia, we wouldn’t have seen one of the greatest trial lawyers or one of the greatest Hollywood producers;  and that David wouldn’t have been able to slay Goliath.

Today’s topic is one that we all need to be skilled in – and not just in divorce – but in life in general– how to create leverage!

First of all – let’s define what leverage is.   Leverage is that thing that you have that helps you gain an advantage in negotiations.   It creates incentive in the other side to settle or resolve the negotiations in a way that you want them to.  

Why do you want it?