People all around the world have heard of the importance of vision and setting goals for ourselves. Prior to this write up I’ve touched on a great metaphor from Arnold Schwarzenegger in my blog that relates quite well to the importance of goals where he speaks of the boat at sea with no destination. Arnold really hit the nail on the head here. A boat surely requires a destination but there are many other things behind what we imagine a boat to be that help it get where it is going. Just like that boat we’ve got more than meets the eye working to get us where we are going. Values are a less heard of component aboard the ships of the successful.
Personal values can serve as a map of sorts for us in life. Just like a boat in the ocean benefits from the use of a chart or GPS we will benefit from well thought out personal values. When implemented these values can help us navigate the experiences we are confronted with throughout our day to day lives. Values can help us justify our actions and support us when we are faced with situations that may require a bit of courage to face. Through upholding what we value we will be able to more easily align ourselves with what we know to be right for us, we may find these values allow us to overcome sometimes complex challenges with a greater sense of ease.
There are surely values that we could think of off the top of our head that we likely align ourselves with unknowingly or automatically. We may have adopted these values based off our experiences in life. While these may be beneficial it is important that we take the time to investigate what our current set of values entails. By doing so with an open mind we can uncover potentially limiting factors of what we have been upholding. After we have spent a good amount of time mulling over this aspect of ourselves we can work on becoming an architect of our value system.
After we’ve determined what we may already align ourselves with in terms of values and given time to think about if what we’ve been valuing aligns with where we stand we can delete, modify, and add values to this list. Don’t be discouraged if your list is not very long. A short list will be easy to recall and implementation may come more naturally. The list is not a concrete thing and we could consider reviewing and modifying it on a yearly basis even. Ensure that time is taken to develop such a list. It doesn’t have to occur over night and most certainly benefits from a lengthy stretch.
I wish for you success, growth, and personal sovereignty.
Jordan Hutchison 