Last week I had the honor of facilitating the first session of my Values-Based Leadership MBA class at Loyola University Chicago. I love this class!
Values are so important in our lives. They guide our actions and decisions. If we are living life according to our values, we can have very meaningful lives.
This class got me thinking.
We all have values, but are you crystal clear on what yours really are? Most people have an overall idea, but I’ve learned that many of us can’t readily articulate our values.
And, that’s a problem.
Being out of alignment with your values can look like this:
• Burnout
• Guilt
• Lack of identity
• Dissatisfaction in different areas of your life
• Lack of fulfillment
• Lack of boundaries
The interesting thing about values is that they will likely change with time and life experiences. At this point in my career, my value of freedom was a driving decision for why it was time for me to leave my corporate job and launch my business full-time.
We get to define our values the way we want. Freedom to me reflected how I spent my time, financial freedom, freedom to do work that brings me joy, and freedom to say no to things that don’t align with what makes me happy.
Had I not done the work to gain clarity on my values, life would have gotten in the way of me making this pivotal change. I likely would have spent more years doing life, but not fully living it.
Are you living in full alignment with your values?
If not, try this:
• Identify your top five values; here is a list to get you started.
• Once completed, ask yourself, “Am I truly living in alignment with my values?”
• Commit and take one action step that aligns with one of the values you identified.
• Share your commitment with others.
Share this blog post with others who you think would benefit from living in full alignment with their values!