Values 101

People talk about values all the time but no-one ever really tells you what a value is, how to work out what your values are, or how to use your values. Do they?

So here it is, folks: Values 101!

What is a Value?

I like to think of values as Principles of a Life Well Lived.

 How Do You Work Them Out?

There are heaps of ways to work out your values. You can:

• Google ‘Values Lists’ and see which words jump out at you, making your own list and refining it as you go
• Free-write on the following question: If you got to the end of your life and you knew, without a shadow of a doubt that you had lived life well, what would tell you that? The structures of that life will reflect your values.
• Or perhaps try this activity: Take a blank piece of paper and make a list of the things that are the most important in your life. It could be: friends, family, work, business, travel, food, dance, my phone, gardening, drinking tea…whatever! Then for each of those things, ask yourself: what does X mean to me? Capture those words. Then pool all those words together and see what you notice. They will likely give you a sense of your values.

What Do You Do With Them?

Knowing your values can make a big difference to the way you live. You can use them to do things like:

• Guide and understand your response to everyday situations
• Shape your relationships
• Make more effective decisions [and feel better about the decisions you’ve already made]
• Shape your goal striving

It’s a great idea to keep your List of Values to no more than five words – it’s important to be able to remember them so that you can use them! But you could find that one word captures a whole lot of principles that matter to you, in living life well.

Tags: career-coaching, life-coaching, Melbourne