Step Two To Living With Intent: What Are My Personal Values?
This week I’ll be reviewing what I believe are some of the most important and actionable keys to your success, as well as how you can implement them in your life.
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Yesterday I dug into Step One To Living With Intent: What Do I Want?
I gave you a simple exercise that helps you get in touch with what you really want in life, and challenged you to write it all down.
Today I’m going to start digging into Step Two of living with intent.
How to Define Your Personal Values
Super quick, I’ve created a free super helpful workbook to go along with this article. Click here to download the workbook.
Before we get into it here, you might be asking yourself “What are values?”.
From our friends over at Merriam-Webster:
value; noun
something (such as a principle or quality) intrinsically valuable or desirable
So values are things that we believe are important to our lives.
These values can include family, religion, or charity for example.
So the question now becomes, why are Personal Values important?
I’m a smart confident guy, what do I need Personal Values for?
Personal Values are important, because they are pretty much the guidelines you set for yourself on how you will handle life.
🌓 You see, life isn’t black and white.
There are many times when we get put in a situation where without a Personal Value system, making the right choice can seem impossible.
In those moments, knowing your Personal Values will allow you to make the right choices and decisions.
Now, I call them Personal Values because they must speak to you personally.
Yes, you can draw inspiration for your Personal Values from other people, from your religion, even from books, but you must personally connect with those values or you’ll find them ineffective in your life.
In order to find your Personal Values, you must take time to self-reflect.
This isn’t something you can do just by reading an article or sitting in silence for a couple of minutes.
It’s best to give yourself at least an hour or three on a day off, to get yourself into the right mind-space, and really dig deep.
When you’re ready, sit down somewhere quiet and comfortable where you won’t be disturbed. Make sure to keep a pen and either a paper or my workbook handy.
Now ask yourself the following questions, and write down your thoughts on each part as your go down the list.
Also keep in mind that your answers can relate to your personal and/or professional life.
- When am I at my happiest?
What am I doing in those times?
Am I with other people? If so, what type of people?
What external factors contributed to my happiness? - When am I most proud?
Why am I proud at those times?
Did others share my pride? If so, who?
What external factors contributed to my feelings of pride? - When do I feel most fulfilled and satisfied?
What desires or needs are being fulfilled in those moments?
How and why did the experience have meaning to me?
What external factors contributed to my feelings of fulfillment? - What Values does my family hold?
How do these values resonate with me?
Do I want to pass these values on to my children? - Who do I look up to?
What books, podcasts, YouTube channels, etc. do I follow?
Who are my mentors?
Why do I look up to this person?
How does this person act?
How does this person lead?
How does this person follow?
How does this person treat others?
What values guide their actions? - What choices do I tend to make?
Who are my closest friends?
How do I respond to difficulties in my life?
How do I respond to the good times in my life?
How do I treat others around me?
Now you may need some time to process after answering all of these questions. Don’t be afraid to take some time to reflect, just remember to come back to the final part.
Determining your top Personal Values.
After processing and reviewing your answers to the above questions, it’s time to take that pen and paper and start listing Values that come to you.
If you end up with an extensive list, that’s ok!
Review the list and pick the 10–20 Values that are most important to you.
My recommendation is to select less rather than more.
The more extensive your list, the less priority you’ll end up putting on what truly matters most to you.
Now it’s important to review your list to reaffirm your Values.
- Are you proud of these Values?
- Do these Values make you feel good about yourself?
- Would you share these values with someone you look up to?
You’ve taken the time to develop your Personal Values.
These are very personal to you. They are your personal formula for success.
It’s not something that can simply be developed and implemented from one moment to the next.
It’s taken you time to develop this list of Values. It will take your lifetime to implement.
Your Personal Values are the guidelines you will live by.
Anyone can make a list, not everyone can stick to it though.
If you don’t implement what I’m giving you here then there’s no point in reading it. Knowledge isn’t power, applied knowledge is power.
Power On 🚀
P.S. I’ve created a super helpful workbook to go along with this article.
Finding Your Personal Values Workbook
For a limited time, I’m giving it to you for FREE!
If you missed Step 1 in my series on Living With Intent, you can read it here: Step One To Living With Intent: What Do I Want?
Otherwise, go on to Step Three To Living With Intent: Why Am I Doing This?
In order to make sure you don’t miss anything, you can either:
Join my WhatsApp group or Follow me on Medium.
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