Values Lead Your Way: What Do You Stand For?

If I asked three people around you – perhaps your boss or coworker, a family member, and a friend – to describe you, what adjectives would they use?

Knowing how people know you and how they would describe you is important feedback for learning whether you are living true to your values and guiding principles.

What do you stand for?

What ARE the values or guiding principles that you live by? What are the things that are most important to you? Do you know? Are you clear about what your values are?

Often, people think they know but they really have never taken the time to consider it.

Often, people think they SHOULD follow certain values but they are not the values that are truly important to them. Values aren’t shoulds; they are at your heart’s core. They are what motivate and inspire you. Values are so important to you that if you were stranded on an island and you could not express or live by these values, you would question whether life was worth living.

Values are the lenses through which you see the world. There are no right or wrong answers; your values are just how you tend to view things.

For example, if you value people, compassion, or love, this might lead you to choose nursing or health care profession. If you value beauty, then that is the lens you see things through and will look for the beauty in everything. You would probably go into a field that would permit expression of this value such as design, fashion or art or even something in nature.

Values are not needs; you could live without them. But why would you want to?

Values operate two-way, meaning that whenever you witness or experience those values in action, you feel fulfilled. It doesn’t have to be you enjoying or expressing the value; even someone else demonstrating the value in action can cause your heart to sing.

Values fill you up. Needs fill a void; when needs are satisfied, it’s as if you are neutral. When you have a need, there is something missing and you need to get that taken care of.

Values add to life. They give life that magical quality. They fulfill you and add significance to life. Values lead your way to making decisions, and, if you are clear about what is important to you, you will make better choices in your daily activities.

1. Take a moment to consider what you stand for, or rather what you WANT to stand for. The way you have been living may not be the way you want to be living. That’s okay. Start from where you are.

2. Identify your values and start living them now. Today. Eliminate or stop doing things that are incongruent with your values and start living in ways that express what’s important to you.

3. Get feedback from others. By asking others or paying attention to what other people see, you learn whether you are, in fact, living in integrity with your word or what you say is important. Sometimes, we can fool ourselves.

Become the person you want to be one day at a time. Starting today.

By starting to stand for what you want to stand for, you begin expressing more of what you are capable of being. You get back to who you are at your core which increases your self-confidence and self-esteem. Life is easier and more enjoyable with clear guiding principles.

What do YOU stand for? Let me know – please comment below.

Your partner for success,

Coach Julie, RN ~ Nurturing Your Success

PS – Having trouble identifying your values? Use this tool - TruValues – to help you. And contact me for a free coaching session to learn how coaching can help you live true to your values every day.