Books by Dr. Margie Warrell
Written to help you live, lead and love braver.
Written with heart and grounded in research, Margie’s practical wisdom will help you live your life more authentically, lead others more purposefully, and bring your bravest self to your toughest challenges and boldest goals.
The latest book
NEW — 2025The Courage Gap
5 Steps to Braver Action
Fear creates the gap between what we’re doing and what we’re capable of doing. Courage closes it. But courage isn’t a personality trait. It’s a learnable skill — and The Courage Gap shows you how to build it.
Filled with powerful stories that bring the science to life, this book distills behavioral research and real-world wisdom into five actionable steps that will help you stop waiting for fear to disappear and risk the worthy failure that secures a stronger future. With a foreword by General Stanley McChrystal and recognized as one of The Globe and Mail’s Best Management Books of 2025, The Courage Gap has also won industry honors including the 2026 PenCraft Book Award (Nonfiction Motivational), the Literary Titan Gold Book Award, and the International Impact Book Award.
The future you want is on the other side of the decision you keep putting off. This book helps you make it.
“Magnificent! A compelling framework for greater effectiveness in your professional and personal life.”
Endorsement 1 of 4
“You’ve Got This! is a high five to the human spirit. A hope-raising, humor-filled book for anyone who ever struggles to have faith in themselves.”
The five books that came before.
Five titles across more than a decade — from the 2009 debut Margie calls her ‘How to do Life 101’ to the 2020 handbook on trusting yourself. Different covers, one through-line: act in the presence of fear, not the absence of it.
2020You’ve Got This!
The Life-Changing Power of Trusting Yourself
It’s natural to doubt yourself — to sometimes wonder if you’ve got what it takes to pursue your bravest aspirations or handle your toughest challenges. Yet if your doubts are in the driver’s seat, they’re selling you short. The 12 principles in this book will help you put them back in their place.
- Grow the confidence to bet on yourself
- Build rituals and habits that keep doubt in check
- Create support networks that hold you brave
- Walk the path of faith over fear, one decision at a time
“You’ve Got This! is a high five to the human spirit. A hope-raising, humor-filled book for anyone who ever struggles to have faith in themselves.”
Jim Kouzes — Best-Selling Author of The Leadership Challenge ORDER ON AMAZONAUDIOBOOK · NARRATED BY MARGIE
2022 · 2nd editionStop Playing Safe
How to Be Braver in Your Work, Leadership and Life
For ambitious professionals who want to take smarter risks in their careers, business, leadership and life. Whether you’ve hit a professional plateau or just want to take your work to the next level, you’ll find insights to help you stop playing it too safe.
- Get ‘on purpose’ and find your why
- Unlearn the assumptions that limit you
- Reassess risk through a broader lens
- Nail the hard conversations
- Lead braver, and foster cultures of courage
“A true expert in the science of success, Margie has written a powerful manual to help you take smarter risks to elevate yourself and others to higher ground.”
Marshall Goldsmith — Thinkers50 World #1 Executive Coach ORDER ON AMAZONAUDIOBOOK · NARRATED BY MARGIE
2017Make Your Mark
A Guidebook for the Brave Hearted
If you’re at a crossroads and intent on a new path or a more inspiring future, this book is for you. Margie’s insights are interspersed with questions and space to write your answers — read it with a pen in hand to create your game plan. If you can’t attend one of Margie’s workshops or retreats, this is the next best thing.
- Decide what you want your life to stand for
- Reset your compass and reimagine your future
- Upgrade the mental maps you navigate by
- Lean into life’s curve balls
- Ditch comparisons and embrace what makes you different
“A book for the brave!”
Bear Grylls — British adventurer, writer and television presenter 
2015Brave
50 Everyday Acts of Courage to Thrive in Work, Love and Life
A dose of inspiration for those on the go: 50 short chapters, each sharing practical how-to advice on being braver in every corner of your life.
- Say no to the good so you can say yes to the great
- Give feedback that actually lands
- Conquer perfectionism
- Apologize authentically
- Own your worth and ask for what you deserve
“… a must-read for anyone who isn’t ready to settle for less than the biggest life they are capable of living. You’ll return to these pages many times.”
Michelle McQuaid — PhD, Workplace Wellbeing Expert ORDER ON AMAZONAUDIOBOOK · NARRATED BY MARGIE
2009Find Your Courage
12 Acts for Becoming Fearless at Work and in Life
Margie’s first book — described by her as her ‘How to do Life 101’ — is a handbook for living a good life in a confusing world that often encourages us to feel like a victim of our circumstances rather than the captain of our destiny. Its core principles will help you navigate life’s decisions with more clarity and less angst, and get back on track when you’ve landed somewhere you’d never have consciously chosen.
- Reclaim the power given away to blame and shame
- Restore trust in yourself
- Release your attachment to how life ‘should’ be
- Step into the center court of your own life
“An up-front, to-the-point and honest masterpiece to navigate your challenge and make wiser choices. You can’t go wrong with this one!”
Richard Carlson — Bestselling Author, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff… and it’s all small stuff
Beyond the books
Put the books to work.
Reading is where it starts. Getting these ideas off the page — into a team, a leadership program, a conference stage — is where they start changing how people act. Two ways to take it further.