You may have heard me or others speak of living your life in accordance with your core values. But what exactly are they?
Your core values are the guides to your life.
Imagine a horizontal line. Your values lie above that line. When you live them, you feel alive, excited and authentic.
Living below the horizontal line creates negative internal dialogue, fear and stress.
Do you know what your values are? Many people don’t, or they get values confused with wishes, responsibilities or just getting by.
Identifying your 5 core values is like peeling back an onion – it can take some time and effort. But it is definitely worth it.
Action – One way to discover your core values is simply to list words that are important to you, such as integrity, family, learning, contributing, adventure, beauty and so on. List as many words as possible and then circle the top 10 which mean the most. Put the list of 10 away for a week and then reduce it to 5.
How much of your life is actually guided by those 5 values? What do you do each day to express your values?
Align your life and goals with the core values that guide you.
(What is your number 1 core value? Please share by leaving a response in the comments box. By the way, this is a great exercise to do over the weekend!)