Understanding your value

If I was to ask you what are your values, would you know what they are? And more importantly, would you know how to utilise them? When it comes to Happiness, understanding your values is a fundamental building block. Your values influence your behaviours, your choices and your emotions. Your values influence your habits, your lifestyle and your social experiences. Your values are your motivators and give you purpose for getting up in the morning. When asked the above question, most responses I hear are pretty vague, people have to think them through or people just say things that they think are theirvalues or that they want their values to be as they are seen as desirable traits to have. But are the values that you want to have really your values? Values explained So what are values? Values are such a broad topic and can’t really be summed up in a single sentence, but put simply, your values represent what is important to you. As mentioned above, they are the driving force behind why you get up in the morning, the choices you make and why you behave the way you do. Examples of values are success, honesty, belonging and health. Some people suggest that other activities such as reading, swimming or socialising are values, however these would be symptoms of your values. For example, if you feel reading is a value, it is probably more accurate to assume that your actual value is learning, or relaxing or something of a similar nature. Think about the actual reason as to what it that led you toread? Similar to swimming, is this truly your value or is it that you value health, wellbeing or success? Perhaps you socialise while swimming and your true value is friendship. These are the reasons that made you choose to go swimming. Understanding exactly whatit is that you value is the perfect starting point for understanding your self and understanding your motivators. Benefits of understanding your values If you want to gain tremendous clarity around your life, your decisions, what matters most to you and ultimately live a happy and successful life, then understanding your values is fundamental. Ultimately, through understanding your values you will be able to prioritise effectively, make consistent decisions and take action in a way that leads you to success and happiness in the areas you pursue. Why does this matter? For three primary reasons: 1) Time is the most limited resource 2) Our decisions are often inconsistent with our goals 3) You want to achieve awesome Happiness Firstly, time is a limited resource. The fact thatyou’re reading this suggests to me that you are wanting to maximize your life , an outcome of maximizing your time. Understanding your values and prioritizing helps you achieve this. Secondly, the decisions you make are far more consistent when you understand your values. When you know what is most important to you, you canprioritise and make consistent decisions to progress you towards your goals. Thirdly, youare on a journey of Starting the Happiness in your own life and in the lives of others. If youwant to achieve success and happiness, understanding your values is a sure-fire way of gaining tremendous focus and clarity of your goals, and through clear prioritization and consistent decisions, you will get there, faster .