“When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.” Roy Edward Disney
Last week I shared the first step in making new year’s resolutions that work. If you’re looking to make a change this year, there’s one very important thing to remember:
Real transformation happens when our goals are aligned with our values.
Many people come up with goals (lose weight, stop smoking, get a promotion) without stopping to think about what’s actually important to them. The problem with doing it this way round? It’s easy to be influenced by what they feel they ‘should’ be doing rather than what’s meaningful for them and what they genuinely want. And, just as if they’d built their house on sand, one puff of wind and the resolutions come tumbling down.
If you want change that lasts you need a solid foundation. Getting really clear on your values before deciding on your resolutions is that foundation, giving you a deeper understanding of WHY they are so important to you. And it’s the ‘why’ that keeps us motivated when things get tough.
There are many ways to describe values but simply put our values are what is important to us: the things we value. Our core values tend to be things like authenticity, honesty, courage etc. which may sound lofty. But our values in general include everything that we give importance to – such as: peace of mind, flow, calm, fun, flavour, kindness, comfort, growth, security, risk, connection. And yes… sometimes our values do conflict – more on that another time.
To help you set goals that are meaningful to you and are in line with your values, I’m sharing with you, for the first time outside of my workshops and one to one coaching, my values sheet. This is a sheet that I’ve specifically created to help people think through and uncover their values (not always as straightforward as you might think!). Don’t worry about getting it right first time. Finding and understanding your values is a life-long process. Start by getting something down and then re-visit it.
Values work is core to my coaching and close to my heart. If you are struggling with it or gain value from it, I would love to hear about it. Let me know how it goes.
I wish you the peace and confidence that comes from living a life in line with your values in 2019,
You can download your values sheet here.
