In order to feel alive and excited, it helps if we spend some time enjoying our passions and orienting our lives around our values as fully as possible. If you haven’t already identified your top 4 or 5 Core Values (from Coach Yourself to a New Career) now is the time. Take the Tru Values Program and list your top 4 or 5 Values here:
Top Values: Activity or Task that Expresses Values:
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Now take a look and see how much of your life is spent expressing those top values? List the activities that you are currently doing that match the value.
For example, one of my values is Beauty/Nature. To express that value I take walks on the seafront, bike along the cycle path (very pretty!), make my home beautiful, buy antiques at auctions. Another value is to Lead and Inspire. To express that I write books, coach people, and lead seminars. Play and have fun… I sing in the local choir and am a member of a really great book club.
The key is to make sure that all your top values are being expressed regularly. If not, create a special project that would honor and express that particular value. If you love travel and adventure, start planning and saving for that next trip abroad.
You may have already worked on this program in the Coach Yourself to Success Online program, so now is the time to revisit your values and see if they need tweaking, refining or expanding. Do you feel any are not being sufficiently expressed right now in your life? What changes could you make to express these values more fully? Are you spending time with activites that don’t honor your core values? How can you automate or delegate those tasks to free you up for value-based activities? As a mother of two, I had to give up some fun hobbies as all I could manage to do was work and look after the kids. The most I could manage while they were tiny was to attend a book club once every six weeks and even that was challenging as I’d find myself falling asleep the moment I got into bed to read! Now that the kids are older and I have more energy, I’ve realized I can start doing more fun stuff in the evenings so joined a weekly choral group.
At various times in our lives we need to take stock and see if our circumstances have changed and we need to rethink how we get our values expressed. Different activities may suit different times of your life. When I was single and living in Manhattan, I used to go out dancing three times a week – a true passion, but now that I’m married and have two children, I’ve taken up singing instead. Works better for now, but when the opportunity to dance again appears, I’ll be all over it! Sometimes our values remain the same, but the activities we are doing change. I switched from pottery to singing because I enjoyed being with the girls in choir, which made it more fun, and more fully honored my value to play and have fun. Same time spent, but more fun had! Is one of your fun activities losing its thrill? It may be time to try something new.
Homework:
Review the Tru Values Program and list your top 4 values above. Are they the same? Have you so fully fulfilled these values that you are now ready to add in some new values? List the activities youwill now add to more fully express your core values.
New Values (if any):New Activities:
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10 Minute Option:
Review the Tru Values program in the Resources section and jot down your top four values.
