How to Work Out Your Top 3 Personal Values

how do you work out your personal values values are like a compass that guide us and help us to make our decisions they are the principles and beliefs by which we live our lives so if you want to effectively lead yourself and lead others then you need to be aware of what those values are but first what do we mean by value well value denotes a degree of importance in monetary terms we set a value on something by how much we're willing to pay for a product or service in moral terms our value is an ideal that we give a high degree of importance to values are the moral code that guide us and the priorities that motivate us if you do not know what your values are then it's very likely that you are living your life whether you know it or not according to other people's principles and priorities so how do you assess your core values you can do an assessment of your own values by examining different aspects of your life and for looking at trends in my experience it's good to start with examining our personal stories our priorities passions and principles so let's look at each of those in turn personal stories one of the most instructive ways you can examine your character and values is by looking at the stories in your life have a think about when have you been most happy which achievement or experience are you most proud of what has been your biggest success what has been your biggest failure what do you fear most which thing in your past are you most ashamed of when reflecting on a personal story you can analyze further by asking what was the situation what role did you have to play and what did you do and then what was the underlying principle that made this a good or bad experience next let's look at priorities we've already seen that values and priorities are linked one simple and effective way to examine our priorities is to see how we use our resources simply put we invest our time and money in what we value so for money think about where does your cash go money provides a very tangible expression of what we prioritize have a look at your bank account and credit card bills and examine where your money goes what do you choose to spend more or less on time is a truly finite resource how you spend your time will give you a good indication of what you really value take a look at your diary or think back and work out the amount of time that goes to various activities each day and each week next we look at passions our passions are the things that drive us emotionally our passions either draw us towards or away from something or someone often we don't realize these thoughts and they go unnoticed but if you reflect on your thoughts and your dreams beliefs and influences then you'll gain a deeper understanding of your passions so think about what are you hoping to achieve in life when you daydream what is it about imagine that you could have one wish that could be immediately fulfilled what would it be what are your theological metaphysical philosophical or political beliefs what are the values of the politicians or political parties that you vote for when something goes wrong what or who do you turn to for answers and support there are many external influences on our lives and predominantly these are people we know or respect think about the following who do you follow who do you want to be like what are the books and stories you like most what are the principles of your family and friends and that leads us nicely onto principles having thought about your personal stories priorities and passions you should be in a much better place to assess what your principles really are what trends do you see appearing and which words help to sum them up these should be your principles the list of words that we could use to express our values is almost endless but sometimes we can struggle to come up with just the right one if you want some help there's a list of more than 150 common principles on the right questions website just follow the link attached once you've looked at your personal stories priorities passions and principles then you need to pick the three to five most important principles these are the core principles the key ones that help you to make those really tough decisions once you know your values you can use them to guide you in making decisions setting goals and living a more fulfilling life this is just a summary there is more you can do in refining and ranking these values so if you want more help then do follow the links to more in-depth posts that are on the website www.thewrightquestions.com as always if you found this helpful then please do like and subscribe you

Channel: Simon Ash

Views: 87,127

Keywords: decision-making, personal values, principles, prioritisation, priorities, leadership

Id: fPYHNPf5XpA

Length: 5min 12sec (312 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 05 2021