Values!
Last week, the day I had a coaching client and realized that all her frustrations regarding her current situation were due to underlying changes of her values, ironically, occurred on World Values Day. So, what do values have to do with the quote? Well, your reaction to that quote says a lot about your values and how you live your life. Values make us who we are by shaping how we see the world, others, and what we define as being right or wrong. Values are super powerful! They are at the core of our being. They are our motivators, our drivers, the reason we do the things we do and feel the way we feel.
Interestingly, in most of my 1:1 Career Coaching sessions, when someone doesn’t see any purpose in their job anymore, it goes back to either their values having changed, or, values having changed at their company. Another possibility is that the company has communicated values, that are inconsistent with how they actually act and work. The result is frustration, demotivation and eventually, decrease in productivity and valuable employees leaving the firm.
So, what do you do with that?
A good place to start is by defining what is most important to you? Your core values determine how you answer this question. Our core values highlight what we stand for and therefore guide our behaviors, decisions, and actions.
When you know what you value, you can live in accord with those values. This leads to greater fulfillment. When you don’t know your values, you might violate them every day. This creates internal tension. And this tension triggers destructive habits and regressive behavior.
I’ve once heard an interesting thing about our values: We don’t choose our values. Our values reveal themselves to us. This means that we can actually discover our values.
If you start with a list of core values, your conscious mind will evaluate which values appear “better” than others. You will select personal values that “sound good” based on your desired self-image. I’ve experienced this myself and also while working with clients. Most of us get stuck in somewhere along the discovery process.
How do you even discover these values?
How do you select the right values?
From the potentially long list of values to choose from, how do you prioritize and then decide/ discover which ones are yours?
And finally, how do you ensure you live these values every day?
Are you interested in finding your authentic values and how to commit to living your values each day? … let me know in the comments. A surprise awaits you!
