How To Find Your Core Values and How They Can Help You Make Decisions
Core values are a guidepost for your life. They help to give you meaning. It’s also easier to see if you are making decisions and taking action towards what you truly want in life. They show you if you are aligned or need to make some adjustments.
This is how you live intentionally. Which is such a hot topic right now. But so many talk about it but don’t really explain what it is. Your core values are your guide / beacons to how you want to live your life. And you make decisions in life; from the small to big, based on these values. Not living intentionally means more you don’t have really any goals you are working towards. Most of your decisions are a reaction to something outside of you.
Core values are broader in what they encompass. No matter what stage in life these will mostly stay the same. It’s just some will be emphasized more on what your goals are. Goals have an end to them. Core values should stay with you for your whole life.
Here are steps to figuring out your core values:
List all your must-haves in life
Find a list of core values and cross off and circle what is and is not important to you
These will be deeply personal and individual. No two people will have all the same values
bring the list down to less than 10
Rank your list in order
Think about how your life would change if these were in your life
Validate
match these with your must-have list
Try to get this down to about 6. You want your top 3 to be the big ones in your life right now. There will always be a few secondary ones. They become part of your top later in life, switching out another one. Or you can use those to help make other decisions in conjunction with your main ones.