Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat stationed in Lithuania during World War II. When the Nazis started rounding up Jews for execution, he spent 18-hour days, at great personal risk, signing travel visas for them… which was quite against the law.

When the embassy was closed some time later, Mr. Sugihara was still signing visas and tossing them from the train as he left.

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Heroism finds people in many conditions and presents them with a choice: either do the right thing or don’t. Some people close their eyes and run from the choice. Others, like Mr. Sugihara, realize that this choice is fundamental to their being, and rise to it. So, before you go back to the mundane, prime yourself for hero challenges: decide that you will not close your eyes and turn away; that you’ll feel the fear and do the right thing anyway.