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Jan Haldane - Does Your Business Align With Your Values?

Friday, July 06, 2012 10:47 PM

If we truly want to feel fulfilled we need to live a life that aligns with our values.

Sometimes we feel dissatisfied and unmotivated for no apparent reason. We have every logical reason to be happy, but something feels just not quite right in our lives. On a subconscious level our mind registers that we’re not living and working congruently with our values, so we have this unsettled, unhappy feeling which is hard to pinpoint to anything specific.

Knowing your personal values is incredibly important as they drive and/or guide your behaviour.

They give your life structure and purpose by helping you determine what is meaningful and important to you.

They help you express who you are and what you stand for.

Your values define your character, and impact every aspect of your life including personal and work behaviours, your interactions with family, friends and co-workers; your decision making processes, and the direction you take in life. This is why it is so important to know what you value and what is important to you.

When we clarify our values, we learn to prioritise what matters most. That way our actions are driven by a sense of purpose. We can then recognise values conflicts in our lives that have been sources of contradiction and ineffectiveness.

So, how do we know what our values are?

Take a blank piece of paper and write down what has been most important to you in your life. Don’t stop before you’ve reached 10 words! There are some suggestions listed underneath this article, but it is much more powerful if you come up with your own values from your own life.

Values are words which access an emotional state. For example:

If you want wealth, the emotion you are seeking may be:

Security
A sense of importance
A reason to feel loved

Clarify the feeling you want to experience rather than the material things or achievements that would give you the feeling.

Remember to list the feelings that are most important to you.

Then compare each value against the other until you have a list in order of importance to you from 1 (most important) to 10 (least important). This ranking process may take some time. You may come back to it several times and change the hierarchy. Keep doing this until you feel comfortable with your choices. It may help to ask yourself, “What does (insert value) give me? Where is it present in my life?”

Here’s a values hierarchy from Jim, a man who had lost his business, his assets and his sister in law’s savings. He had contemplated suicide until Tony Robbins staged a Strategic Intervention which changed Jim’s life.

Jim’s Values

Love
Make a difference
Peace/Serenity
Validation
Accomplishment
Being good enough
Thrill
Satisfaction
Adventure
Security

It’s not hard to see why Jim felt so desperate. He had let down his loved ones. This hurt him more than anything else, as love was his highest value.

How is your highest value reflected in your business? Hint – you may tend to sabotage your business success if you are out of sync with your highest values.

Here is a list of commonly held values. It is by no means definitive, so please substitute your own words for those shown here.

Live your life with purpose and passion. Give your best to the world by being in sync with your core values.

VALUES

Love
Success
Freedom
Intimacy
Security
Adventure
Power
Passion
Comfort
Health
Integrity
Spirituality
Family