Success in life means living by your values!
What are your values? What is important to you? How do you want to be?
Values are the ongoing principles that guide and motivate us through life. Values are our direction of travel. Our values guide us on a journey through life to help us achieve our goals along the way.
It is important to remember that values are different from goals. Goals are specific things that we want to achieve. Specific things that can be crossed off the list. Values are how you want to behave not what you want to achieve.
Clarifying and connecting one’s values can help make your life more meaningful.
How do we live our values?
Notice the moments in your life when you feel alive or light up. Note the experiences that make your life seem worthwhile. Think about why and your values won’t be far behind.
- identify activities or projects that mean a lot to you and/or add value to your life.
- think about how these activities benefit you.
- identify the values that are embedded in these activities.
You can have different values for different areas of your life, so it might make it assign to align the different values in your life with the different areas in your life.
Relationships
Ask yourself:
- What kind of relationships do you want with your family, your partner, your children?
- What kind of friend do you want to be? How would you like to act towards your friends? What kind of friendship is important?
- What kind of relationship do you want with your wider community?
Work & Career
Ask yourself:
- What kind of work is valuable to you?
- What qualities do you want to bring as an employee?
- What kind of work relationships would you like to build?
Leisure and Personal Growth
Ask yourself:
- How would you like to enjoy yourself?
- What kind of things relax you?
- How would you like to ‘grow’ as a person?
- What would you like to know more about?
- What kind of skills would you like to develop?
- How might you increase your appreciation of the world around you?
- What kind of spiritual relationship would you like to develop?
Health and Well-Being
Ask yourself:
- What kind of values do you have regarding your physical well-being?
- How do you want to look after yourself?
- How can you look after your mental well-being?
Write a journal entry for each question that inspires you to help you identify some values that are important to you.
It is also useful to review these values every few months because some, not all, can change over time in terms of their importance to you.