What Are Your Life Values and Why Knowing Them Makes You Feel Good

I was recently asked some questions to do with work and I was actually lost for words!  Yes,  it’s true,  I honestly didn’t know what to say and more importantly I didn’t know what to think.  Reflecting a little later, I was quite saddened because the question that totally stumped me was;

 “What values do you have? (What really matters to you, what must be present in your life?)”

Gulp,  I even feel a little uncomfortable now typing this but will forge ahead!  I  honestly didn’t know where to start.   There are so many important things so how do I work out what is most important?

Enter Mrs Google!  Typing “how to work out your own core values”  I found many an interesting site. Most of them had their background in business coaching which I thought was interesting in itself.

According to Scott Jeffrey (https://scottjeffrey.com), the founder of CEOsage, a transformational leadership agency and resource for self-actualizers,  he has observed that those who have clearly defined life values experience greater fulfilment in their life.  Yes please,  I’d like some more of that!

He say’s that  “When we don’t honour our values,  our mental,  emotional and physical state suffers”.   Thankfully,  he has outlined how to work out your own core values in a fantastic and easy to follow way.

Following the process he outlined,  I was super aware,  like him,  my own health and wellbeing were pretty high on the list.  I then became really aware that despite this being one of my own core values,  I continually sabotage myself by prioritising things of less importance above it,  pushing myself until I am so pooped that I get ill.  I don’t think that Scott or myself are alone in this, particularly given what my patients tell me everyday.

Our values are our very own personal code of conduct.  They can guide the choices we make and our behaviours.  When we honour these values we feel good about ourselves and feel more fulfilled.  Hooray.  When we don’t follow them,  we tend to find ourselves falling into bad habits and find less helpful ways to make ourselves feel better.  Take exercise for example, how many times when we don’t manage to motivate ourselves successfully to do the 15mins of exercise a day do we substitute it with lying on the sofa stuffing our face with ice cream and crisps because we are “too tired”….. or is that just me?!?  Then I feel bad about myself,  I have failed yet again to start the process of getting fit and then can beat myself up again about how terrible I am.

I don’t think I’m alone with this.  So,  having recently started the process of clearly defining my own personal values,  I have been massively enlightened and inspired to share Scott’s blog with you guys.  I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful.  I feel the benefit of taking this sort of thought process into daily life and not just reserving it for the business setting can be hugely beneficial for the vast majority of us.

So, here it is!

https://scottjeffrey.com/personal-core-values/

Enjoy every moment of working out what is most important to you.

I’d love to hear what you found out about yourself if you’d like to share it.

Have a great week!

originally posted  27th September 2018