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Discovering and Living by Your Core Values

Written by: John Chasteen

Article Overview: Core values are essential to keeping your life on track. Do you know yours? Most don't! Would you like to know yours? 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:

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

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Article Tags: core beliefs, core values, crossroads, decisions, driving force, fike, intimacy with god, jot down, life values, marriage, matter of fact, measures, personal development, plumb line, priorities in life, quiet time, spirit, spiritual life, time prayer, word phrases



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