So, What Are Your Personal Values And Do You Live Your Life By Them?
Personal values guide you through life, affect the decisions you make, they define your characteristics and behaviours. So, what are your personal values?
Hi Trish Davies, here, founder of Build Your AU and today I want to look at a foundation of your authenticity. These are your personal values which motivates and guides you to live your life the way you do.
When you know what your personal values are, they act as a moral compass which gives you direction in life. They also act like a barometer to measure the levels of fulfilment you are experiencing.
Therefore, when you are aligned with your personal values you will feel better about yourself. You will live a life full of joy and fulfilment. The flip side is that if you are feeling down, a lack of purpose, in life then you are not being true to yourself.
You must then re-visit your very core and the inner sanctums that define you as a person. Re-evaluate what you are doing, re-ignite your true personal values, then align them with the actions that you take.
What you must understand is that everybody is different. The person next to you will have different personal values to yours. That is fine because they are living their life and you are living yours.
Don’t get swayed by other people, define your personal values, and create a framework to design your life. That framework will enable you to live your life, your career which is truly aligned with what you believe in.
What are your personal values? If you are still unsure then the insights, I am going to share will help you reconnect with your inner core.
What Are Your Personal Values, What Is Most important To You?
The first step to define your personal values is to look at what is important to you as it will help you discover your values. The first exercise won’t take too much time as things will instantly come to mind. There is no set limit, but you should be able to come up with at least 5 things without too much trouble. Such as the following –
- Family
- Friends
- Helping Others
- Self Development
- Learning New Things
Then take it one step further and recall 5 experiences that made you feel alive and engaged. Times when you have felt yourself lost in the moment, doing something that was really important to you.
The chances are that these experiences will involve some, maybe all, of the pints you have just written down. As an example, it could be when you came to the aid of a friend who was in strife.
Pinpoint what made you feel alive while you were doing what you were doing. What emotions did that trigger, why did you feel fulfilled?
Now I want you to think about people who you admire and look up to. People who you look upon as role models. These people can come from any sector of life such as you family, friends, teachers, leaders, sports, or the celebrity world.
Think about five people and define what it is you admire about them. Is it how they live their life, what they have achieved or what they are good at, their talents. Define what their values are and write them down against each name.
The chances are they are they are aligned with yours. In other words, you share the same perspective in life.
What Do You Want Out Of Life?
The short exercises I have asked you to do will help you discover what your true personal values are. What I want to do now is set you another exercise which could take a little longer to complete.
I am going to list a number of questions that I want you to answer. There are only six, but each answer will require a lot of thought and sole searching. When you have completed it, you will learn a lot about who you are and what you stand for. It will be there in black and white.
If you like to use your computer, then open up a Word Doc or the equivalent you have installed. If you are old school and still like to write, then grab a notepad and pen. The exercise is very simple as I all you need to do is create 2 columns.
In the left-hand column enter your answers to the following questions. Within the right-hand column enter how you answer reflects your values. Here are the questions –
- What do you want to accomplish in life?
- Do you have goals and aspirations?
- Is there something you want to be in life or in your career?
- What things do you want to have?
- How would you like to spend your time?
- What do you hope to experience in life?
Once you have completed this exercise you will have a list of what your values are. These will be apparent on the left-hand side of your screen or paper. As an example, let’s look at the first question.
- Answer – To serve people though having your own business
- Values – Work ethic, dedication, honesty, transparency, motivation, integrity, purpose
That’s just an example on how to tackle this exercise. At the end of it you will have a huge list of personal values that you hold close to your heart. Some of them you will be already aware of, some will come to light that you may not have acknowledged.
What I want you to do then is to prioritise them from 1 – 10. It is ok if you have more but for now just concentrate on the top 10. Look at each one and then rank them accordingly with the #1 being the most important to you.
When you have completed this final exercise, you will have your list of personal values. This list will then help you make the important choices in both your personal and professional life.
Build A Business Based Upon Your Personal Values?
Hopefully I have answered the question which is, what are your personal values? If you are still looking for even more clarity, then my Build Your AU program will give you that clarity.
What I do is look at personal values like your abilities, strengths, challenges, characteristics, gifts, and talents. This then shows your authenticity and develops your authority. Then take both of those fundamental pillars and create an online business which attracts people who are aligned with you. To learn more, click the button below.
Helping you build your authenticity, authority and audience.
Trish Davies
Build Your AU
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