“Values are like fingerprints. Nobodies are the same but you leave them all over everything you do.”
Elvis Presley
Do you know what you value?
Try this—have a look at this list below and split the words into 3 categories:
Very Important / Somewhat Important / Not important
You’ve got 10 minutes….. go!
The list below is not every possible value so feel free to add in anything else as needed.
Now, disregard the “not important” list and combine the words from the “very important” and “somewhat important” lists.
Choose your top 10. You’ve got 5 minutes, go!
Got it? Great!
Now, choose your top 5. You’ve got 3 minutes, go!
You probably started with a really long list because we all like to think we value everything. But as the list got smaller, the time also decreased so that you wouldn’t overthink each round of cuts.
The final 5 should be relatively accurate. It doesn’t mean you only value these 5, but these 5 are likely to influence a big chunk of your life.
In case you’re wondering, here’s my top 10:
Discipline
Spirituality/Faith
Family
Productivity
Health
Growth
Hope
Curiosity
Connection
Gratitude (forgot to add this to the list above)
I put my top 5 in bold.
Why does it matter if you know what you value? There’s a few different types of people on the spectrum of understanding values:
You know what you value but your current life doesn’t align with those values which means you’re probably feeling unsatisfied, frustrated, or “off.”
You don’t know what you value which means you might lack an overall sense of purpose
You chose your values based on what you think others want you to value which means you might feel a sense of resentment or frustration because you’re not being true to yourself.
You know your values and your life is relatively aligned with those which means you feel an overall sense of purpose and fulfillment.
Values-Based Living
Once you know what you value, the next step is to do an audit. Take a look at today. How did the things you value influence the work you chose to do, the way to spent your energy, the decisions you made, the money you spent, and more?
“Our values determine the metrics by which we measure ourselves and everyone else.”
Mark Manson
Values are the things we aspire to—so you’re likely not perfectly aligned between your behaviors and values. That’s ok.
This question, like so many of the others we’ve looked at, is really about being intentional.
Looking for more questions? Check out a few of the most read posts shared over the last 2 years of asking!
