It’s now deep into February and a lot of people fall off their New Year’s Resolution about this time. How are you doing? Where are you at?
Goals or resolutions can be intimidating. Some people avoid goal setting because of the lack of completion in the past. Some people may start thinking they don’t have will-power, that they’re a failure, and just give up. Sometimes, instead of going by our own values when making a goal, we may have based our New Year’s resolution around someone else’s set of values. In a world of social media, it’s easy to get swayed into that.
Let’s regroup, today, and determine what YOUR values are, together. When you are able to set goals around that, it’s easy to complete it.
Let’s define a value. Value is the importance, worth, or usefulness of something
Also, a person’s principles or standards of behavior.
You learned your values through development, starting at a very young age. Things that made you feel better and feel supported were things you became drawn to and valued. Things that harmed you or that you felt challenged by, you pushed away. This determined your values.
Dr. John D. Martini came up with a value determination question set. You can go deeper with him by following the link here.
Grab a piece of paper and a pen, then dive in.
Here is his free assessment:
You will be given 13 different questions. Answer these 13 questions with 2, 3, or 4 short answers. Don’t overthink it but be thoughtful.
- How do you spend your time?
- How do you spend your energy?
- How do you spend your money?
- Where are you most organized?
- Where are you most reliable?
- What dominates your thoughts?
- What do you visualize most?
- How do you fill your space?
- What do you most often talk to yourself about?
- What do you most often talk to others about?
- What inspires you?
- What goals stand out in your life and have stood the test of time?
- What do you love to learn & read about?
You now have a piece of paper with an overall theme of your life. The ones that are most commonly showing up on your piece of paper are your values. Take the time to total up the most common answers and rank them as #1, #2, and #3. These are your values at this point in your life.
Now the big question is, are you living your life according to your values?
If you are not, it’s time to make a shift.
I have people come into the office all the time for pain. But, my goal in the office is to get people to connect with their purpose, connect with themselves, and find joy in life again. True happiness is when you are able to live out your life according to your values.