Guide Your Life By Discovering Your Values Discovering your values is an essential part of defining what matters most to you. It allows you to identify your highest priorities and to describe how you live those priorities in your life. Develop the list of values that govern your behavior, your goals, and your interactions with other people by following this simple process: Identify your values by brainstorming your highest priorities. Prioritize your values by visualizing how essential they are to your life. Clarify your values by writing statements that describe how you live each value.
Identify your values by brainstorming your highest priorities.
In order to identify your values, brainstorm the answers to the following questions: What are my highest priorities? What are the principles that I focus on in my interactions with others? What gives me the most joy in my life? What principles help me to be the most effective? What would I spend my time doing if I had no other responsibilities?
Prioritize your values by visualizing how essential they are to your life.
In order to prioritize your values, visualize them competing against each other. By choosing between values, you can identify which is most essential to your life. One of the following visualization exercises will get you started. At the end of the process, you should have a prioritized list of values.
Visualization exercises for prioritizing values:
1. The I-beam exercise. If an I-beam were bridging a canyon, what would you cross that I-beam for? Which of your values would you not cross the I-beam for? 2. The Titanic exercise. If you were on the Titanic with all of your values, and the ocean liner started to sink, which values would you take with you if there is limited space in the lifeboat? Choose to take those values that you most want in your life, leaving one behind each time until you reach the last one. The one you leave behind first will be last on your prioritized list; the one you choose to take after leaving the rest behind is your #1 value. 3. The burning house exercise. Using the same process as the Titanic exercise, limit one-byone what you will take out of your burning house.
Clarify your values by writing statements that describe how you live each value.
Clarifying statements allow you to make your values personal. They allow you to describe how you place a priority on those priorities in your life. Write as many clarifying statements as you like under each value, but remember the following keys.
Keys for an empowering clarifying statement:
1. Make it personal. It should be focused on you, within your control or influence, and written in the first person. 2. Make it positive. It should describe what you do to live that value, not what you don’t do. 3. Make it present tense. It should be written as if you are doing it consistently right now. Avoid the future tense (“will”) and any tentative phrases (“strive to,” “hope to,” etc.).
Samples of values and clarifying statements:
Value: intellectual growth Clarifying Statements: I listen with an open mind to what people have to say and take in what I think might enhance my world. I read things relating to all aspects of my life and seek to internalize worthwhile things. I seek opportunities for formal education that will help me learn and grow. Value: generosity Clarifying Statements: I remember the generosity of my parents and seek to ensure that their examples will live in me always. I help people out whenever I see a need, and expect nothing in return. Value: financial security Clarifying Statements: I spend less than I earn and save something each month for a rainy day, no matter what. I contribute to my 401(K) plan and my IRA each year as part of my preparation for retirement and the future. Value: health Clarifying Statements: I watch what I eat. I take vitamins regularly. I exercise daily. I maintain my ideal weight. Value: happy marriage. Clarifying Statements: I communicate with my spouse. I consider her thoughts feelings, and needs. I enjoy her company.
This simple process of identifying, prioritizing, and clarifying your values will give you a list of priorities that can guide you in your decisions, in your interactions with others, and in your future goals. Good luck and enjoy!