VIA Character Strengths to Build Courage, Bravery, and Self-Advocacy

 

Using and Developing Your Character Strengths Towards Self-Advocacy, Bravery and Courage 

Once you know your top character strengths, this can help you understand how to build your self-advocacy skills using those strengths! 

Link for the VIA Character Strengths Survey: Link (Links to an external site.)

 

Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence (Awe): Core Character Strength of Transcendence

• Share a favorite piece of inspiring art that inspires you to speak up for yourself with a friend or schoolmate.  
• Create a piece of fine artwork that inspires you to have the courage to speak up and share it with a friend, counselor, or teacher.
• Study a historical or current figure whose love of beauty instilled personal bravery and courage (like Greta Thunberg).
  

Bravery (Valor): Core Character Strength of Courage

• Stand up for someone or something you believe in.
• Ask someone to spend time with you as you prepare to do something brave.
• Give a speech about valor to a small group (maybe with your family, or create a video.)
• Introduce yourself to someone you don’t know to practice being brave.

Creativity (Open to Experience): Core Character Strength of Wisdom

• Do at least one assignment in a different way from what you would normally do.  
• Offer at least one creative solution to a friend, sibling, or yourself—then celebrate the courage it took for you to offer that solution.
• Make and share a list of creative tips to deal with common challenges you and your friends face, then do some of the things on that list.
• Brainstorm on possible ways that you could increase your bravery, then act on some of them.
  
• Write a story about how a hero/heroine used their character strengths to speak up for themselves.  Read it out loud to yourself.  Maybe a teacher would allow you to do it for an assignment. 

Curiosity: Core Character Strength of Wisdom

• School is all about curiosity!  Look for a student you haven’t met before and start asking them about their interests.  See if you can find 3 things you have in common. 
• Look for examples in nature where animals you like act bravely.  Think about ways you could pattern courageous behavior after that animal. 
• Connect with a student from a different culture or background and spend some time each week to get to know that person.  Make a goal to find out 3 things they do that you think are brave.  
  

Enthusiasm (Zest): Core Character Strength of Courage

• Spend time in a place that increases bravery; like a park, a zoo, or a gym. 
• Think of a way to make it fun and exciting to be brave.  Read a mystery or adventure novel and point out the ways the main character showed bravery.   
• Embrace the adrenaline your body creates when you prepare to speak up.  Tell yourself that the adrenaline is due to feelings of excitement, giving you the courage to act.  
• Tell yourself it’s okay to feel afraid and that it’s normal to feel fear in the face of doing something courageous.
  

Fairness (Equity): Core Character Strength of Justice

• Read books of famous people who have bravely shown fairness in the face of opposition (like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, or ask our librarian for ideas).   
• Write down 4 events in your life where you have felt so strongly about something being fair or unfair that you spoke up.  
• Write down 2-3 unfair things that you feel strongly about to the point you would like to do something about it one day.  
• Be fair to yourself by giving yourself permission to feel nervous about acting bravely.   
• Congratulate yourself as you would a good friend for any activity that takes courage. 
  

Forgiveness (Mercy): Core Character Strength of Temperance

• Give yourself permission to make a mistake in your efforts to do something brave.   
• Plan ahead and practice your response to potential situations where you are advocating for yourself.  Give yourself ample room for forgiving yourself and others in the process. 
• Practice those things you fear to do and if you make a mistake quickly let it go. 
• Know that you can ask for forgiveness just like you extend forgiveness to others, so it’s okay to try things and fail—eventually, you will succeed!
  

Gratitude: Core Character Strength of Transcendence

• List 3 things that give you courage.  Why are you grateful for those things? 
• Write a note of gratitude to someone you see as a brave example. List some ways you could use their example to act bravely. 
• Thank someone in some brave way, then congratulate yourself for your courage! 
• Keep a “Courage” or “Bravery” journal, listing things you do that took some courage, then write down why you are grateful for what you did. 
  

Honesty (Integrity): Core Character Strength of Courage

• Use your honesty to bravely tell the truth about a situation.   
• Honesty creates courage because it often takes courage to speak the truth.  Recognize you already have a huge step towards advocating for yourself by being honest with yourself and others. 
• In a writing assignment, write about your fears of being brave.  Use honesty to counter unrealistic fears.  
• Ask yourself, is this fear real or imagined?  If it’s imagined, it’s not the truth.  If it’s real, how can I face it bravely? 
• Who are some honest people in history who have shown courage?  What are some things they did that you could do?
  

Humility (Modesty): Core Character Strength of Temperance

• Humble people are open to advise and assistance from others.  This is a GREAT strength!   
• Ask a friend, teacher, or counselor to help you go through the steps of self-advocacy in a situation. 
• Ask a friend, teacher, or counselor for suggestions on things you could do to build your bravery, then report back.  
• Ask someone you trust to give you feedback as your practice advocating for yourself.
  

Humor (Playfulness): Core Character Strength of Transcendence

• Think of humorous ways you can advocate for yourself.  People LOVE humor! 
• Humor often dissolves barriers.  Think of ways you can use humor to lighten the mood when you need to say or do something brave.  
• Use humor to encourage social justice or to advocate for yourself. 
• Do something that requires courage and find the humor in things if it doesn’t go as you planned. Avoid making fun of others in mean ways.  Focus on uplifting humor. 
  

Kindness (Generosity): Core Character Strength of Humanity

• Take some kind of a simple gift to break the ice as you prepare to speak up. 
• Keep a list of kind acts you have done to help bolster up your bravery.  Note that kind people are well-liked and you most likely will well-received as you speak up. 
• Your kindness strength helps people feel comfortable and happy.  Know that you can speak up politely and do it kindly. 
• Practice verbalizing your kindness by complimenting a student and a teacher in your class. This will help build your courage. 
  

Leadership: Core Character Strength of Justice

• Use your love of Justice to increase your courage to speak up.  Tell yourself you’re close to speaking up—just take it the next step! 
• You’re a natural at speaking up!  Study a cause you believe in then jump in and speak up! 
• Organize your thoughts and lead out in your natural way! 
• Collect bravery building ideas from people you admire then teach a "speak-up"  lesson to someone.  
  

Love of Learning: Core Character Strength of Wisdom

• Do an internet search on methods used to increase courage, bravery, and influence. 
• Buy a book about how to build courage, bravery, or learn self-advocacy.  Teach someone what you have learned. 
• Study historical people who became brave and courageous over time.  Then list the actions they did that you would like to try.   
• See your self-advocacy practice as an experiment from which you can learn.  (Growth Mindset)

Love: Core Character Strength of Humanity

• Mentally send love to the person you need to speak as you prepare to speak up. 
• Seek out the positive traits of the person or organization you need to speak up to and give some genuine compliments as you start to speak up. 
• Trust that your warmth and loving nature will create a comfortable space for people to hear you as you speak up. 
• Think of the benefits to you and others as you speak up about something important to you. If it’s important to you it is likely important to others and will help others.
  

Optimism (Hope): Core Character Strength of Transcendence

• Use your ability to hope to list potential hopeful outcomes to your bravery.   
• Use your hope to believe in your ability to act bravely.  
• Notice any negative, self-defeating thoughts and change them to hopeful thoughts as you go through the steps to advocate for yourself.  
• Assure yourself that you CAN and WILL learn how to speak up!  It’s just a matter of time!  Allow yourself the space to practice and sometimes mess up—that's normal!
  

Perseverance (Persistence): Core Character Strength of Courage

• Make a list of the steps and insist with yourself that you will stick with it until you learn how to speak up. 
• Keep telling yourself that practice makes perfect and eventually you will bravely face your goal! 
• Break the goals into smaller acts.  Do each act and congratulate yourself as you go forward in each step.  You can take longer than others to complete your goal if needed, but just continue to stick to it! 
• Focus on each goal you make as you move toward your goal.  Ignore negative thoughts that can bring you down and focus on the gains you’re making!
  

Perspective: Core Character Strength of Wisdom

• Email or text a wise person you know and believe is brave.  Ask them for tips. 
• Watch a movie or read a book or short story where someone’s perspective increased their courage. List some ways you can act in a like manner.  
• Read quotes of wisdom from historical people who have learned how to advocate for themselves. Then make yourself small practical action steps you can take towards speaking up in a situation.   
• After you do something brave congratulate yourself and do it again!
  

Prudence: Core Character Strength of Temperance

• Congratulate yourself on your ability to think before you speak.  Trust that careful planning usually leads to success.  
• Focus on the positive long-term outcomes of learning how to advocate for yourself.   
• Break the goal to speak up bravely into small acts that you can do.  Congratulate yourself for every step towards the courage to speak up! 
• Know that prudent people are often seen as dependable and as someone who follows through.  Trust that people will want to hear what you have to say! 
• Make a list or ask a friend, parent, or counselor to give you ideas of why it is safe to speak up.  
  

Self-Control (Self-Regulation): Core Character Strength of Temperance

• Make a list of steps you will take to speak up bravely. Then make realistic goals that help you work up to speaking up and advocating for yourself. 
• Mentally think of yourself speaking up bravely.  Do deep breathing, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, or EFT tapping as you think about thinking up bravely. 
• Think about the brave people you admire.  Make a list of qualities they have.  Pick out 2-3 things on the list you can work towards. 
• People with high self-control are good at doing things they set out to do.  Trust that you can reach your goal and learn how to speak up with courage!
  

Social Intelligence (Emotional Intelligence): Core Character Strength of Humanity

• People with high social intelligence are good at communicating without offending people.  Trust your ability to speak up! 
• Make a goal to talk with at least 1 person a day in a way that helps strengthen your bravery in speaking up.  
• Practice introducing yourself to new students or people you meet. 
  

Social Responsibility: Core Character Strength of Justice

• Know that if you speak up about something it usually helps others.  Who else may you help by speaking up?   
• Speak up and then share the results with a group in some way. 
• Focus on how this will help you help others as time goes on!
  

Spirituality (Faith, Purpose): Core Character Strength of Transcendence

• Relax or meditate on why you need to learn to speak up bravely.  What greater purposes can this fill? 
• Look up affirmations or quotes that help you believe you can eventually be brave. Think of those who may benefit from your self-advocacy. 
• Think about how a small brave action can lead to big changes over time.  (And sometimes immediately!)  
• Spiritual people usually have high resilience.  Try, try, try and you’ll succeed in time!
  

Teamwork: Core Character Strength of Justice

• Use your positive view of people to act bravely and assume there will be a great outcome! 
• Have some of your friends coach you along as you prepare to act bravely.  Report back to your friends as you move toward your goal!  
• Notice positive personality traits in the people you need to be brave with.  Tell them of their strengths you’ve noticed as you work up to speaking up. 
• Savor a time you acted bravely in the past with a team.  Visualize yourself using that kind of courage as you do the brave thing. 

(Note that some of the Character Strengths are labeled differently in the VIA survey based on age.)