Do You Know Your What Your Values Are?

12/10/2010

Albert Einstein said; “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.”

Values are the building blocks for who you are right now and who you are becoming. When you know what your values are you will have a much better chance of making the right choices. These are choices that serve you best, choices that help you to live in alignment with whom you are and who you want to be and they are the choices that help you sleep easy when you go to bed at night.

Values are standards of excellence by which you choose to live your life to the best of your ability every day. When you live according to your values, you can focus on what is important and what you want to achieve with your day. The natural outcome is a life full of real joy, excitement, inspiration, harmony, balance and a sense of peace. It does not mean that every day is problem and pain free, not at all. Life is realistically full of challenges, but, by having your values as a compass, all that you do tends to take on real meaning and purpose. If you really want to change something in your life and succeed, it is firstly all about getting serious about your values. Until you determine what your values are, it is impossible to move forward to a truly happy and full life. Success materializes as a result of having values and practicing them at every opportunity.

Values are often overlooked. Values are often overlooked. There is much talk about achieving goals. People almost seem to be obsessed with goals, but not much is mentioned about identifying personal values. I am not saying that goals or dreams are not important, but they are not worth much if they do not fit into the picture of who you are and want to be. Those kinds of goals end up leaving you feeling empty and confused.

You need to determine your values first if you want to move forward in creating the lifestyle of your choice.

Brainstorm a list of values in no particular order. Here is a list of values to spark off some ideas for you:

Accomplishment Accountability Adventure Ambition Creativity Challenge Collaboration Comfort Communication Compassion Competency Cooperation Courage Credibility Dependability Discipline Discovery Efficiency Equality Excellence Fairness Freedom Family Flexibility Friendship Fun Gratitude Honesty Health Improvement Independence (Financial, Job, Lifestyle) Individuality Intimacy Integrity Knowledge Leadership Learning Love Loyalty Money Peace Perfection Personal Growth Positive Attitude
Practical Habits Power Privacy Progress Punctuality Quality Respect Responsibility Results Safety Security Service Status Success Teamwork Time Trust Wealth Willingness Wisdom Work

1. From this list, select all the values you practice in your life now.
2. Choose the ones that you want to keep and add others that you want to include in your life.

• From your full list of values that you have come up with, write down the 10 most important personal value.
•  Now that you have your 10 values imagine that you are only allowed to have 5.
• Choose these top 5.
• Of the five you have listed, write them down in order of priority from 1 to 5. (1 being the most important )
• You now have your TOP 5 values.

This does not mean that your other values are unimportant, but you now have a clearer picture of what is most important to you. These values can now be used as a backdrop or compass for any decision, choice or challenge you need to make or overcome in your life.

When you make your choices and decisions, check to see if it is in alignment with at least your Top 5 values. My golden rule is that if it does not check in at least 3 of my 5 top values, then I know I need to readjust or re-evaluate my goal, my technique or my purpose.

Try it out, and enjoy the results. It works!

Submitted by Kim Knight, Owner of Kim Knight Coaching