Values Clarification

We all have goals in life and we all know that writing our long and short term goals down benefits our success greatly. Goals are more likely to transpire when we engage in the process of writing our personal plans each year. For years I have been writing my goals on paper, keeping them in front of me daily just like the successful people before me. I have made some great steps and I am proud of my accomplishments to date but what I and many others neglect to recognize is weather these goals fall within our individual values.

Values
These are our core principals that make us who we are. They are the innermost virtues that we must live by each day if we truly want to be successful and happy with our achievements. Otherwise some of the goal setting we do is not getting us to where we ultimately want to be. I asked myself the other day, what are my values? What is important to me because these goals I write sure better meet what I believe in or else I am wasting my time.
Most of us have the priorities in health, professional, finances, emotional well being, family, relationships and hobbies. By knowing what is the most important we cut out the less important areas and create a better blueprint or personal plan which allows us to commit more time and energy to then meet our goals.

Action Steps
How do we determine what is important to us in life? What are our values? Here are a few exercises that can help. I encourage you to try them because who would not want to gain a greater knowledge of ones self.

1)Imagine yourself living in your nineties and you are thinking back to everything you accomplished in your life. What accomplishments were the most meaningful? Reflect back on the things you enjoyed the most and what gave you the most pleasure. Write these down and keep it brief.
2)Imagine you have been just informed that you have a few months to live. During this time you are physically able to do anything you please. What experiences would you go for? What things would you do with your remaining time? Write these down and keep it brief.
3)Imagine you are in the greatest library with the best books on every subject known to humanity. Go through the whole library and pick the books that interest you the most. What books would you pick off the shelf? Are there values inherent in these titles? Write down the titles of these books.

Hierarchy of Values
With the ideas you have jotted down compare them. The idea is to create a hierarchy of values. Use your intuition to determine what answers feel the most important to you. Take the time to think more about these values and juggle them around based on how you feel. Some will end up being more important than others. Then use your intuitive sense to place the highest values on top. This is your principal list of values that will decide your priorities and goals. When we know our values we gain a greater sense of self knowledge and are then better able to create meaningful personal plans in life that truly reflect who we are and who we want to be.