Values Clarification
What are our core values? What do we stand for? What are the organizing principles of our life? What are our core beliefs? What virtues do we aspire to, and hold in high regard when we see them demonstrated by others? What will we not stand for? What would we sacrifice for, suffer for, and even die for? These are extremely important questions that are only asked by about three percent of the population, and that small minority tends to be the movers and shakers in every society.
When I first began this Values Clarification exercise some years ago, I wrote out a list of the qualities that I would aspire to. Eventually I came up with every virtue, value or positive descriptive adjective that referred to me personally and added value to my character. And I agreed with all of them. I felt that they were all important and I wanted to incorporate every single one of them into my character. This would be a great exercise for all of us to do.
Then reality sets in and we realize that it is very hard to learn even one new quality, or to change even one thing about ourselves, let alone dozens of things. So scale down your ambitions and began narrowing the values down to a small number that you can manage and work with. Once I had settled on about four or five core values, I was then able to get to work on myself and start making some progress in character development.
You should do the same. You should write down the four or five values that you feel are the most important for you to live by. Once you have those values, you then organize them in order of priority. Which is the most important value in your hierarchy of values? Which would be second? Which would be third, and so on?
Every choice or decision we make is based on our values. Whenever we decide between the alternatives, we invariably choose the alternative that we value the most. Because we can only do one thing at a time, everything we do is a demonstration of what we consider to be the most important at that moment. Therefore, organizing our values in an order of priority is the starting point of personal strategic planning. It is only when we are clear about what we value, and in what order, that we are capable of planning and organizing the other activities of our life.
Here are a couple of things we can do immediately to put these ideas into action!
Clarify your core values and your unifying principles. Write them down and compare your life today with the values that are really important to you. Then organize your values in order of their importance to you. Which of your values is most important? Do your current choices reflect this order?
“Remember, Success is always Within Reach”
#terry ogburn #entrepreneur #Business #Business Development #Business Sales #business coaching #business coach
When I first began this Values Clarification exercise some years ago, I wrote out a list of the qualities that I would aspire to. Eventually I came up with every virtue, value or positive descriptive adjective that referred to me personally and added value to my character. And I agreed with all of them. I felt that they were all important and I wanted to incorporate every single one of them into my character. This would be a great exercise for all of us to do.
Then reality sets in and we realize that it is very hard to learn even one new quality, or to change even one thing about ourselves, let alone dozens of things. So scale down your ambitions and began narrowing the values down to a small number that you can manage and work with. Once I had settled on about four or five core values, I was then able to get to work on myself and start making some progress in character development.
You should do the same. You should write down the four or five values that you feel are the most important for you to live by. Once you have those values, you then organize them in order of priority. Which is the most important value in your hierarchy of values? Which would be second? Which would be third, and so on?
Every choice or decision we make is based on our values. Whenever we decide between the alternatives, we invariably choose the alternative that we value the most. Because we can only do one thing at a time, everything we do is a demonstration of what we consider to be the most important at that moment. Therefore, organizing our values in an order of priority is the starting point of personal strategic planning. It is only when we are clear about what we value, and in what order, that we are capable of planning and organizing the other activities of our life.
Here are a couple of things we can do immediately to put these ideas into action!
Clarify your core values and your unifying principles. Write them down and compare your life today with the values that are really important to you. Then organize your values in order of their importance to you. Which of your values is most important? Do your current choices reflect this order?
“Remember, Success is always Within Reach”
#terry ogburn #entrepreneur #Business #Business Development #Business Sales #business coaching #business coach