Your Values

“The most impor­tant things in life aren’t things.“
– Fran­cis the Talk­ing Mule

“One of the symp­toms of an approach­ing ner­vous break­down is the belief that one’s work is ter­ri­bly impor­tant.“
– Bertrand Russell

“Often peo­ple attempt to live their lives back­wards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want to they will be hap­pier. The way it actu­ally works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, to have what you want.“
– Mar­garet Young

First, take a sheet of paper and write at the top “My Val­ues.” Start by list­ing your top ten val­ues. Ask your­self what kind of feel­ing, value, or per­sonal mean­ing you would like in your life right now. What are your inner­most con­vic­tions? What do your really value in life? What are you truly pas­sion­ate about? What are your core desires?

They can be health, wealth, excite­ment, career, spir­i­tu­al­ity, integrity, hap­pi­ness, peace of mind, love, appre­ci­a­tion, finan­cial inde­pen­dence, pres­tige, etc. Most impor­tant, your val­ues can and should also be the impor­tant peo­ple in your life. They can include your mother, your father, your spouse, your lover, your chil­dren, your friends, etc. Don’t look at what you want but at what’s impor­tant to you. Con­sider the ulti­mate ben­e­fit in the accom­plish­ment of any goal.

Then, pri­or­i­tize your val­ues from one to 10 (or more), where one is the most impor­tant value you cher­ish and 10 is the least. Write beside each of your val­ues the rea­sons why you’ve cho­sen this value as well as why you’ve pri­or­i­tized it in its respec­tive order.

For exam­ple, you can say, “I’ve cho­sen finan­cial inde­pen­dence as a value num­ber one because I do not want to ever go bank­rupt again,” or, “I’ve cho­sen health as my num­ber two value because I want to live my life to the fullest and, since heart-​​related prob­lems run in my fam­ily, I refuse to be stricken with this kind of disease.”

A per­son to whom I taught this tech­nique chose secu­rity as one of her val­ues because of an expe­ri­ence she had after being robbed and los­ing every­thing she owned. She chose wealth as another value because, after los­ing every­thing she owned and lack­ing proper insur­ance, she was home­less for sev­eral months. She was repulsed by this kind of liv­ing and rebuild­ing her life was a pri­or­ity. As you can see, val­ues as well as their order of impor­tance are strictly personal.

So let’s start the entire process by first list­ing your pri­or­i­tized set of inner­most val­ues. You can take a new sheet of paper and rewrite them in proper order. These are your rock-​​solid val­ues that live in every sin­gle cell and fiber of your being. They are what make you unique. They are your pur­poses in life. They are your pri­or­i­ties. They are the fuel that will pro­pel you along your jour­ney. They will help you deter­mine your “guides” rather than your “goals.”

As time goes on, you may need to review and reset your val­ues. We all change with time and growth is a nor­mal and expected part of life. While some if not all goals may never change, your val­ues or their new order of pri­or­ity can, and this will con­flict with your goals or cloud your per­cep­tion of their importance.

For exam­ple, you are prob­a­bly sin­gle and value career as a num­ber one value and fam­ily as a num­ber two value. Years from now, you may meet that spe­cial some­one and start a fam­ily. More than likely, you will start to value your fam­ily first rather than your career.

If your goals are not reeval­u­ated or realigned prop­erly with your pri­or­i­ties, this will cause some dis­tor­tion in your per­cep­tion of the impor­tance of your career goals. In addi­tion, it can cre­ate some chal­lenges along the road of achiev­ing both career and fam­ily goals.

To remain con­sis­tent, you must there­fore con­tin­u­ally ensure your activ­i­ties respect your per­sonal set of pri­or­i­ties. Review­ing your val­ues from time to time will cause you to reassess your goals, re-​​prioritize them, or realign them with your val­ues. Don’t worry if this hap­pens to you.

Remem­ber that your val­ues are your guides along the voy­age of life. Nobody can change them but you. They gov­ern your actions and will grant you the nec­es­sary deter­mi­na­tion, courage, and moti­va­tion you will need to be suc­cess­ful. In fact, as you break your goals down into smaller easier-​​to-​​digest activ­i­ties, you will add value to what you do. Ulti­mately, why should you earn a liv­ing when you can design a life worth earning?

About the Author

Last 5 Posts By Michel Fortin

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