Few things are more useful than knowing your values. Knowing your values results in clarity and focus. Your values act as your compass, Guiding Points when defining your priorities. These priorities can determine how to spend your time and energy best. Knowing your values can significantly streamline your life and your efforts. Decisions become easier to make.
Live your values to feel more fulfilled:
First, you must know your values. Have you ever taken the time to determine your values? Now is the time! Make a list of your values. Just write them down. If it means even a little to you, list it.
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- Prioritize your list. It doesn’t matter if you have 100 values or only 10. Put them in order from most important to least.
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- Reexamine your list. Now that you have a prioritized list decide if you’re happy with it. Consider the life you’d like to live. Will your list of values get you there? Reorder your list as appropriate.
- Sort your list. Once you are happy with your prioritized list, sort the values into several lists of shared ideas.
Use your values to choose a career or hobby. Suppose your top values were love, contribution, and peace, you probably wouldn’t enjoy a career as an investment banker. Your hobbies likely wouldn’t include trapping animals for fur. But you might want a career with a non-profit organization or as a minister.
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- Does your current career line up with your values? If not, can you change careers? If you can’t change careers at this point in your life, can you do something on the side that will allow you to live your values? Using the previously mentioned values, you could volunteer to work with homeless children on the weekends.
- It’s just about impossible to be happy and fulfilled if you spend most of your day living a life not aligned with your values.
Create habits in alignment with your values. Suppose one of your highest values is health. It only makes sense to have eating and exercise habits to support that value. It will also be easier to create a habit that promotes a significant value.
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- Examine your list of values and determine if your current habits support those values. What else could you be doing to live your values more consistently?
- List your habits that are counter to your values, too.
Choose the people in your life. No matter how independent you might be, the people in your life influence your thoughts, decisions, and behavior.
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- Consider how you think and act around each of the people in your life. Consider spending less time with the people who pull you away from your values and more time with the people who push you toward your values.
- Be strong. Some of your longtime friends might be hurting your ability to be true to yourself.
Make decisions with your values in mind. Knowing and living your values can make your decision-making process much more comfortable. Imagine an opportunity for a big raise, but you’ll spend less time with your family. That would be a hard decision for many people.
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- If you know that your primary value is wealth, the solution is obvious.
- If you know that your primary value is family, the solution is also apparent.
- Use your values when making decisions.
Learn and live your values. You’ll be able to make decisions quicker and less painfully. Life has fewer hard choices when you’re familiar with your values, and the best option is obvious. Practice this important concept, and you’ll streamline your life and decision-making process when your Guiding Points are in place.
