Your core values are the driving force behind your joy and and your pain. Whenever you are feeling happy, one or more of your core values is being honored. Whenever you are feeling frustrated or stuck, one or more of your core values is not being honored. Bottom line, to increase your happiness and well being understand your core values.
5 Steps To Understand Your Core Values.
1. Think of times when you were feeling really joyful. Maybe the birth or a child, a wedding, or freshman year of college. Choose a time and ask yourself what value was being honored? Was it connection, integrity, freedom? Snoop around and write up to 10 words that represent what was underneath that joyful feeling.
2. Recall times when you were feeling stuck or frustrated. Explore a specific time with the goal in mind of identifying what core values underneath the situation were being dishonored. Write down 5-10 words that you think represent your value.
3. Notice throughout the day what triggers your emotions. Ask yourself what values are being honored, or dishonored. Take a few notes and compare them to the list you have written from steps 1 and 2.
4. Keep your values list in front of you. Post index cards or stickky notes around your house, in your day planner, or on your computer. Become very familiar with the words that represent your core values. Keep exploring each day to get a firm understanding of what is driving you in life.
5. When faced with a decisions run the scenario through your core value system to discover the answer. When you are aligned with your values everything is easy and feels great, when you are unaligned things get tough and everything seems hard. Here is an example to get you started. I have a very strong freedom value (most entrepreneurs do.) If I was offered a lucrative salary for to become a 9-5 employee, my freedom value would have a fit. As a result of being out of alignment with one of my core values, my relationships would suffer, my health would decrease, my physical environment might deteriorate, all because Im not a happy camper being a 9-5 employee. I want to go on field trips with my kids, schedule clients when my coaching is at its best and write articles from spa rooms in the mountains!
Have fun with this and if you need support my Business Breakthrough Coaches are highly skilled at helping you create a strong foundation with your core values, personality and life purpose all rolled into one power packed session.