I did a webinar recently on living your purpose, and it struck me how many people don’t know what they value in life and are unhappy on what life is bringing them. If you don’t know your life values, it’s so easy to get lost, make bad decisions, lose your way. If you’re unclear on what matters, does anything matter? We want you to live your best life and the easiest way to start that path is to know and live your life values. But how do you do that?
First, let’s start with what are life values? Seems like a simple question—it’s the things you value, your standards of what is important. But let’s take another step into this—Life Values are the big areas of your life that matter most. We all have several of these in common. Psychology has broken these down to the big six.
Here are the BIG SIX
Career — wealth, where you get your money
Family — your closest circle
Relationships — this is your intimate partner
Personal Growth & Development — basically your relationship with yourself
Physical Health — your physical body
Spirituality — your connection to God, your higher self
The truth is, these values exist where you acknowledge them or not. But trust me, it’s better to know and lean into them.
So what? Why does knowing these matter?
Once you are aware of your Life Values, the clearer things become. Knowing these gives you guidance on what’s important to spend your time on, what to pay attention to. They help you answer questions like, What job should I pursue? Should I fight this fight? Should I go after that promotion? Should I volunteer at church? And (Bonus!), they shine a light on your life’s purpose.
Your life is made up of time. Time is not good or bad, but it is relentless—no do-overs, no rewinds, no “groundhog days”. This means time—your life—goes by whether you do anything or not, enjoy it or not, whether you mature, fall in love, have a family, build a business—or not.
Life gets easier when you know your values and make decisions based on honoring them.
Read that again—life gets easier.
So, how do you do this?
Step 1: Start with the Big Six. Then add any other big life themes that are important to you. For some it’s Friends, Connection, Energy, etc. Just make sure it’s yours. Write all of these out and put them in order of importance. The key here is to put them in the order of importance on what they actually are—not what you want them to be. I get some of you feel as a parent you feel family should be at the top, or you feel Spirituality “should” be first but please understand, THESE ARE ALL IMPORTANT, and it is really okay if something else is your top value.
Step 2: Write a small paragraph, just a sentence or two, about what that value means to you. Family can mean something different to different people. Beauty is one of my Life Values. To me Beauty means the physical manifestation of love. The meaning you place on that value is key.
Step 3: Look at what you wrote. For many, their life’s purpose is right there. You will see/feel a connection to who you are striving to be.
Now what?
Living your values is about awareness, and choice. Remember you are exchanging time, your life, in everything you do. And let’s face it, we all do things that don’t “light us up.” But think about how doing that task leads to your values. If you are at home cleaning—what value are you being intentional about? Creating a nice living space for your family? Making your life more efficient so you have more time elsewhere? By connecting to your value the tasks takes on a new meaning. When you are watching TV or a sporting event with your friends and family, what’s the purpose? Are you there to connect? Perfect, then put away your electronics and focus on that. Don’t miss the connection by scrolling social media. Make the most of the moment.
The Hard Part
Once you know what matters most, you may notice you spend a lot of time in areas that don’t bring value or meaning to your life. We all do. How many hours are you wasting on video games, TV, social media, or even with people who pull you away from your values?
If you are spending too much of your time doing things that are the opposite of who you are meant to be, you will be pulled off your path. You know you’re off your path if everything starts to feel hard. Life becomes a struggle. You get caught up in the brambles instead of walking a clean path.
Cutting out the things or people that don’t bring you value, purpose or meaning can be difficult. Walking off your path is worse.
For a more detailed exercise on values—just set up a time with Traci or me. We got you.
Comments