Values are the ideals that define who you are and the way you live your life. They dictate how you feel about yourself and the way in which you interrelate with other people. They also act as a personal moral compass as you navigate life and help you determine what is and isn’t acceptable to you.
Values are a key component of the Nurture stage of the Success Generator. When you are in a good place, they complement and guide you in the decisions you make. But, if you are experiencing challenges in your life, then your values may be compromised and you may have a general uneasiness with life and not feel fulfilled.
This happened to me! I was consumed with wanting people to accept me because I incorrectly thought, that if they knew the real me, they wouldn’t like me. As a result, I became a total people pleaser, so a lot of my decisions were based around what other people wanted and not what I valued or what was right for me.
When I took time to really consider my values, I found a number of them were hugely important to me. They included, health, honesty, trust and respect for self and others.
In my pursuit of acceptance I realised I had not been living my life according to those values. I had lost sight of who I truly was and in fact my life choices had been in direct conflict with them!
My life had to change if I was going to feel happier and more fulfilled. As a result, I initiated some major life changing decisions to bring my life in to line with my values.
It is important to recognise that your values may well change as you navigate life. For example, when you are young, you may be driven by advancing your career and enjoy the extra income that may come with that. However, as you become older, family and time with your children may feature as a higher value and greater priority. You may be happy to forego the big income to have more time with family. In later years more leisure time and relaxation may be the focus of your attention.
If your goals are not aligned with your values, then you are unlikely to achieve. Why? Because you may not be totally engaged and if you did accomplish something, then you may well feel unfulfilled in the achievement.
Understanding your values will help guide you as we navigate through the different stages of the Success Generator. Visit the Action Hub to understand your values. The next element of the Nurture stage is passion, so let’s explore how you can discover yours now!
