What are Values?

Values are the way we want to behave in our life; ways we want to be. Everyone has different values and living in line with our values each day brings meaning, richness, fulfillment to life.

It can be helpful to identify what your values are and then formulate goals to make steps in the direction of your values. Values are the direction and goals help us make steps towards that direction. For example, we may really value being creative and a goal may be to spend 15 minutes each day painting. Another example may be, we may really value being kind and caring and a goal may be to volunteer at a soup kitchen each weekend.

Why are Values Helpful?

Values can be used to motivate us to do things that are mundane or challenging things in our life. We can sit and imagine ourselves - the best version or ourselves - living completely in line with those values to gain motivation.

Values also can be used to bring clarity for direction in life. We can identify our values and then take directions towards those values in terms of our occupation.

Values can be used to bring purpose and fulfilment to each day. We can choose a value we want to actively want to engage with that day and "flavour and savour" our day with it. We can purposefully do things that allows us to engage with that value and take a moment to notice how that makes us feel.

How do I Identify my Values?

It is important to take time to reflect on what your values might be. What qualities of ways of being resonate with you and bring you meaning and richness in your day to day. Below are two tools to support you to identify your values:

• Look through this list of values considering each domain of your life - social, occupational, leisure, personal development, spirituality and health - and note which five are most important to you across each domain.
  

• Imagine you’re at your 80th birthday party. Imagine you’re sitting at a table with all your friends and family and one of your most loved ones, someone who knows you completely, stands to make a speech about you and the life you have lived. Take the time to consider and reflect on the following questions. How would you like them to describe the way you lived your life in terms of your relationships with your family, friends, intimate partner? How you interacted at work? What your life’s work stood for? How you were in terms of your spirituality or faith? What sort of person you were in relation to your own personal growth? What your leisure life looked like? How you behaved in relation to hobbies, relaxing, experiences?

Take Action Towards Values?

Bulls-eye Activity

Now you have identified some of your values across the different domains of your life, it is important to take action towards these values; to move towards living in a way that is more consistent with the qualities you want to embody. This Bulls-eye activity can be helpful in supporting you to take those first steps.

1. If you are to imagine a dart board in front for you, with the bulls eye representing ‘living completely in line with your values’ and the outer rings representing ‘not living completely in line with your values’, where would you put yourself on the dart board in terms of each of the above life domains?
   
   

2. For each domain of your life, think of a big goal in line with one the areas of your life that is line with your values. Break this big goal down into lots of smaller goals.
   
   

3. Use the strategy of SMART goals to make one small goal that you can achieve this week that moves you closer to the bulls eye this week. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. For example, if you value physical health and want to improve your fitness, your SMART goal might be: “I will go for a 30-minute walk three times a week for the next month.” By setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals, you’re more likely to stay on track and make meaningful progress.
   

Final Thoughts

Living a meaningful life starts with identifying your values and making a commitment to live in line with them. Values give us direction, and goals help us take practical steps toward embodying the qualities that will bring meaning and richness to our lives.

If you’d like support in identifying your values or setting goals that align with them, our clinic is here to help. We can work with you to build a life that feels truly meaningful.