Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on.

An audience does much of the work we credit to bravery. Under watch, ordinary people manage extraordinary things, partly because the shame of failing publicly outweighs the fear of the act itself. Remove the audience and the same act suddenly requires something you have to supply from your own pocket. What is left when nobody will ever hear about it is the honest measure.

Think of something right you would do if it would be seen. Do a version of it this week in conditions where it cannot be, and notice how much of your motivation was reputation.