Define values to achieve your smart goals and ensure you live the life of your dreams
Last month you would've seen some pic's of my FAMILY together on another Hardwick ADVENTURE this time in Europe. While on this trip we took some perceived RISKS while skiing in marginal weather and ski conditions on some of the most spectacular ski runs in the world. These challenging conditions resulted in all of us and especially my Niece and Nephews from Australia experiencing some significant GROWTH in their skiing ability while gaining new confidence. We all had lots of FUN times, creating lifelong memories while of course maintaining a high degree of INTEGRITY at all times.
My Values are: Family, Adventure, Risk Taking, Integrity, Growth and Fun. I live my life by my values, they are my foundation.
What are yours?
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll recall that as we entered the new year, I emphasized the importance of celebrating Success, defining your Vision and setting Goals to achieving the "Life of your Dreams".
Where do you stand at the end of February 2023?
Did you complete your Vision Board and your One Page Plan for 2023 and define what success looks like? Are your Goals S.M.A.R.T. goals?
How are you tracking and what progress have you made? I'd love to hear from you. Is your One Page Plan and Vision Board on the wall in your Home Office where you can see it every day?
This month I'd like to ensure your Values are well defined and crystal clear. Your values are like your "North Star" they keep you aligned and help keep you focused on the right things both personally and professionally.
It is these values that dictate how you live your life and ultimately how you go about achieving your goals.
What Are Values
and Why Are They Important?
Values are what allow you to live a fulfilled and passionate life, the life you have always wanted to live.
Values are like guiding principles for how we live our lives, providing a framework for how we interact with others, how we make decisions, and how we respond to life’s challenges in our personal and professional lives. Values can be influenced by many things, including our upbringing, family, culture, beliefs, education, and personal experiences.
Values help us to recognize what is truly important in our life, and make sure that our actions reflect and are aligned with our beliefs. Having a strong set of values can bring us comfort, purpose, and fulfillment.
For example, if FAMILY is one of your fundamental values, then when you’re making major life decisions, you will give more thought to how major decisions might impact your family and how you might make more of an effort to spend time with your family.
If EDUCATION is one of your values you might always be seeking ways to learn new skills and possibly drive hard for your family members to live a life of continual learning by attending college or university.
Alternatively, if CHALLENGE, ADVENTURE or GROWTH are your values you might always be seeking new ways to be challenged to grow incorporating new ideas and experiences into your lifestyle, and make decisions which are shaped around your need for adventure.
If, INFLUENCE is an important value, working to network with other influencers or taking part in events and activities that help you serve a greater purpose.
Values help us to stay focused on our goals, aligned with our vision, create meaningful relationships, and live with integrity.
Ever noticed how people with very different values from ours can sometimes be difficult to get along with or be around? However this is really an opportunity to grow and learn about others.
Kinds Of Values:
There are 4 different kinds of values:
- Individual values: demonstrate what you personally consider to be important (eg: fame, and adventure,)
- Relationship values: determine how you relate to others in your life (eg: openness, compassion, and honesty)
- Organizational values: demonstrate what your business considers to be important (eg: teamwork, productivity, and innovation)
- Societal values: show what you consider to be important in society (eg: environmentalism, citizenship, and community)
Values play a key role in every aspect of your life.
We are all unique in the way we think and act, and our values reflect that. Some values may be shared by many people, such as valuing honesty or integrity, but everyone's interpretation of those values is unique. It is important to recognize and respect the values of others, even if they differ from our own. We can learn from each other and grow when we recognize that our values are individual and unique.
Searching For Your Values?
I was once fortunate enough to spend some time interviewing over 50 seniors who were living in retirement homes. One of the last questions I asked them was “What is your fondest memory?” Every 65 to 104-year-old that I was interviewing came back with almost the same response: "time spent with family and close friends celebrating a significant personal event or achievement in their lives." Not once did I hear that it was the time they spent at the office, a promotion, or a pay raise, nor was it something tangible like a car, or a house. It was always memories of time spent with loved ones.
This had and continues to have a profound impact on my life resulting in me always seeking out ways to create memorable experiences with family and friends.
When you think about your own Dream Life, what values come to mind? When you are older like the folks in the nursing home, how do you want to be able to answer the question “What is your fondest memory?” What kinds of things do you envision seeing on the highlight reel of your life?
Here is an exercise to help you answer that by determining what your values are.
Below is a list of different values. Select the top ten that most resonate with you the most. This list is not exhaustive, so if you resonate with a value that is not on the list, feel free to add it. There are no right or wrong answers here.
Once you’ve made your top 10 picks, then rank them from 1 to 10, where 1 = your most important value. go back to your One Page Plan and confirm that your values are aligned. Make any necessary revisions to your One Page Plan and reprint it to put up on your wall.
REMEMBER: Part of being a successful leader, or entrepreneur is recognizing that adjustments or changes sometimes need to be made along the journey of life.
If you’d like some help to get a clear idea of your values and how to use them to achieve your goals and build your dream life, drop me a line. I’m always here to help.
Meet Chris Hardwick
Executive Business Coach
For over 20 years I've been helping entrepreneurs and business leaders to realize their dreams and achieve success.
As an entrepreneur, world traveler, adventurer, and motivator, I lead by example. My goal is to inspire you with my passion for life, success and happiness.
