Discovering and Living by Your Core Values
Core Values – everybody has them. As a matter of fact, we all live by them either consciously or unconsciously. They really are the driving force behind our lives.
Many of our core values do not originate from ourselves; they were given to us by others. I guess you could call them hand-me down values. Of course, others you formed as you navigated through life.
So you might be asking,” how does one define a value?” I define a value as “a distinctive set of core beliefs by which one measures his or her priorities in life.”
Values are an essential part in keeping one’s life on track. When we clarify our values, we begin to lay down a plumb line for all our decisions. They help us to navigate as we face future crossroads in our life.
Do you want to find your values? Here are a couple of quick ways to help you get started in discovering your core values and help you hammer them into a values statement:
1. Your values will always show up in the form of patterns in your life
Author and speaker Doug Fike says, “Life’s patterns are what values look like when lived out”. A pattern is something you are consistently doing because you have a certain value.
If you can discern patterns that crop up in your life, whether good or bad, then you can begin to understand the underlying values behind them.
Start with a list of patterns that seem to define your life.
2. Oftentimes your values can be described in short, simple one or two word phases
For instance, notice the following short word phrases and see if you can see a values pattern: “Spirit-filled and led, intimacy with God, quiet time, prayer.” These are a few of the short phrases that I use to describe my values on Spiritual life.
Now, take any category like marriage, personal development, or family for example, and begin to jot down phrases, images, or a short series of words to describe the way you feel about it. In reality, these are your values.
Keep working on them, refining and rephrasing them for a more defined set of core values.
Conclusion:
I suggest you practice the above exercises in ten key areas of your life; they are as follows:
1. Spiritual life
2. Marriage/single life
3. Family and children
4. Work
5. Church and ministry
6. Financial stewardship
7. Physical stewardship
8. Personal development
9. Social stewardship
10.Recreation and hobbies
Hope this helps!
Coach John
Works Cited: Doug Fike, Life Focus Resources, Transformational Leadership Coaching, 2005
Discovering and Living by Your Core Values - To learn more about this author, visit John Chasteen's Website.
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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