Personal values in 5 steps
What Are Personal Values?
Personal values are your central beliefs and the tenets that guide your actions. These principles influence your behaviour and personality traits and guide you through success and challenging times. These individual values inform your decision-making, aspirations, and relationships with loved ones.
You can learn personal values from the people around you or develop them on your own through personal growth. Children often adopt most of their values from the family members in their lives, but they start to build their own value systems as they age.
The Importance of Personal Values
Having a clear set of personal values is important because it helps identify the actions and initiatives that make you feel fulfilled, promoting your well-being and self-respect. When your actions align with your values, you’re more likely to feel satisfied with your decisions and relationships. Personal values are also important because they help you develop a sense of morality, ensuring your actions are consistent with your beliefs.
How to Create a List of Personal Values in 5 Steps
Reflecting on your values is a crucial step in personal development and helps you set goals for self-improvement. Follow these steps to develop your values:
1. Research different types of values. Learning about different core values is a simple step in choosing your guiding principles. Review a list of core values, circling the terms that mean the most to you. During this stage, focus on familiarising yourself with as many common values as possible. This starting point helps you select meaningful values later on.
2. Reflect on what makes you happy. Reflect on moments when you have felt most at peace. Think about when and where you are happiest in your daily life. Also, reflect on the cultural and family values that defined your childhood.
3. Consider your role models. Take a moment to think about the people of influence and role models in your life. Consider the aspects of their personality and daily actions you admire most. Thinking about why you respect your role models helps you develop a set of values that reflects the behaviour you want to emulate.
4. Identify your goals. After contemplating the social aspects of your life, consider your main aspirations. Create a list of goals from a professional and personal standpoint. Use your list of goals as a blueprint for choosing values that help you achieve your aspirations.
5. Finalise your list of values. Select six to eight values that best represent your personality and everyday life. Write these values down, and display them as a daily reminder to live your life according to these guiding principles. Choosing a list of values will help you feel purposeful in your decisions and actions.
Why do this?
Having a greater awareness and understanding of your truest values in life can only help ground you and motivate you to achieve greatness. This doesn’t just influence the stereotypes of career change, but it’s also vital when considering life changes that can influence your overall health, wellness and happiness.
Extracts taken from https://www.masterclass.com