Courage requires two elements: something difficult (otherwise we’d call it easy) and something worth doing (otherwise we’d call it foolish). Values are a powerful tool for courage because they define what is worth doing. When we reframe a difficult task as an opportunity to live into our values, the friction decreases—and the courageous, difficult act becomes more accessible.
Your values* are your inner operating system: the scripts running in the background that define who you are at our best. Values are your source of intrinsic motivation. When I look back on moments in my life when I was most alive—both in terms of personal wellbeing and meaningful contribution—my values were clearly at work. During an internship in Syndey, building a leadership program in Tanzania, and when planning a celebration to honor my mentor, my values of teamwork and generosity were front and center. In each case, those values made the effort feel worth it, even when it was uncomfortable or uncertain.
This is how values become a lever for courage.
One act of courage is having difficult conversations. These conversations often feel hard because of the risk involved—discomfort, misunderstanding, or damaging a relationship. But when we intentionally connect the conversation to our values, it becomes worth doing and less difficult.
The same courageous act can be reframed through different values:
| Courageous Act | Core Value | Reframe as an opportunity to… |
| Give tough feedback to a colleague. | Teamwork | strengthen collaboration with your colleague. |
| Hope | express belief in your colleague’s capacity to grow and improve. | |
| Honesty | share your truth and invite your colleague to share theirs. | |
| Spirituality | create meaning beyond yourself and honor your colleague’s humanity. | |
| Kindness | talk directly to rather than talk about your colleague or silently resent them; clear is kind. |
When we see courageous acts as pathways to our values, they stop being acts of bravery and simply a means to express of who we are.
So consider: In what ways do you want to be courageous right now? How might you reframe your courage as a path to live more fully into your values?
* Not sure what your core values are? I love this exercise that Tara Mohr makes freely available on her website: https://www.taramohr.com/dealing-with-fear/core-values/ You can also check out the VIA Character Assessment, also free: https://www.viacharacter.org View your top 5 character strengths and consider if which are morally held. This instrument assesses behaviors rather than aspirations, so it’s a great data point offering feedback on what values you live day to day.