Last week, we explained why a growth mindset is absolutely necessary to create a new beginning of growth, purpose and fulfillment. Today, we’ll dive into your core values—those internal beliefs that are foundational for your decision-making and will lead you to your highest levels of fulfillment.
Your core values will reflect your actual behavior and should avoid being aspirational. A great place to start in determining your core values is to ask other people to describe your positive characteristics.
It’s usually an interesting experience to hear how others perceive your behavior and what they value most about you. The descriptions coming back to you won’t necessarily become your core values, but the words used will tend to cluster around concepts that accurately describe your actions.
More Exercises to Create Your Lists
Other exercises to help you create a list of personal attributes and beliefs that might become your core values include the following:
Reflect upon what’s most important in your life and ask yourself, “Why?”
Consider the circumstances of important decisions you’ve made in the past. What beliefs about yourself, others, and the world around you became drivers for your decisions?
Look back at your biggest accomplishments and determine what drove you to those achievements. Did a strong personal attribute play a role in keeping your performance at a lifetime high level for an extended period of time?
Revisit uncomfortable and troubling times. Was something missing or ignored in your life that caused the circumstances? What personal attributes did you lean into and rely upon to pull yourself out of it to a better place?
You might end up with a pretty long list of personal attributes and beliefs after completing these exercises.
Find Your 3–8 Word Clusters
The next step is to organize the words in clusters around a central theme. Many times, these clusters are used in the definition of a core value.
At this point, it’s appropriate to reference a list of core values to help you define your word clusters.
It’s quite possible you’ll end up with 15-20 words / word clusters.
Remember, you’re determining your CORE values.
Your last task is to cut or combine the words and word clusters until you’ve determined the 3–8 CORE VALUES that are most important to you and are responsible for driving you to your highest level of fulfillment.
Keep your lists of your biggest accomplishments and uncomfortable/troubling times handy. They’ll be valuable inputs in the next Relevant Living™ series exercise: Your Lifetime Chronology ©.
It’s Never Too Late to Plan for Your Family’s Future
Has planning for your family’s future taken a back seat to running your business?
Do you get tense and nervous just thinking about your future (because you know you haven’t done the work you need to do to ensure it’s a good one)?
Life is unpredictable—the last thing you want is for circumstances to decide for you.
Your future isn’t going to get here sooner than you think—it’s here right now, and it needs a plan. Shape your future the way you’ve shaped your business.
“Your Future Is Now. Let’s Get To Work!”
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