This is the second part of a five-part series on setting effective goals.
Part One: How to set effective goals
Identifying your core values is an essential first step in defining goals, whether those goals are personal or professional. The process requires you to examine the beliefs, priorities, and principles that motivate and control your thoughts and actions. Here’s a step-by-step guide to show you how to define your values for effective goal-setting:
Self-Reflection
Set aside dedicated time for self-reflection. This could be done through journaling, meditation, or quiet contemplation, but whatever approach you take, summarize the results in writing.
Ask yourself open-ended questions about your views on life, relationships, success, happiness, and morality and, again, record the answers.
Examine/Consider your upbringing and early life experiences. Your core beliefs are strongly influenced (positively or negatively) by family, cultural, and societal influences during your formative years. Make sure you candidly identify both positive and negative influences.
Identify and record principles, experiences, values and expectations that significant figures in your life shared with you.
You now have lots of bits of paper generated by the preceding four operations. Compile these into a single document. You can call it Original Inputs, Initial Operating System Parameters, Core Values/Beliefs 1.0 or whatever you will.
Identify your Core Beliefs
Core beliefs about life, relationships, success, happiness, and morality are intimately linked to your values. Use the material in the document you just created to Identify the principles that are currently most important to you in various aspects of life.
Compare your documented values with your actual behaviours and identify any discrepancies.
Think about the principles you live by and compare them with the qualities you admire in others.
Document the results of items 1, 2 and 3
Review Your Experiences
Identify the significant experiences in your life and the occasions when you felt most fulfilled or proud.
Examine the values in those moments and why they were important to you.
Prioritize Your Values
List the values you’ve identified and prioritize them based on their importance to you. Identify those values that are hard limits and those which are “desirable” rather than “essential”
Evaluate Your Current Situation
Evaluate your current lifestyle and actions. Are you living in alignment with your values?
Identify those areas where your behaviour is inconsistent with your values. These inconsistencies will be essential starting points for goal setting.
Seek External Feedback
Talk to trusted friends, family, or mentors about your values. If you’re running a company, ask your colleagues.
Be open to constructive feedback and consider your long-term future goals and aspirations. What values are essential for achieving these goals?
Ensure that your values align with the direction you want your life to take.
Regularly Review and Adjust
Values can change over time as you grow and evolve. Regularly review and adjust your values to ensure they continue to reflect your authentic self and are consistent with contemporary societal/cultural norms.
Create a Values Statement
Summarize your core values in a statement. This can serve as a personal guide that reminds you of what is most important to you. More importantly, if you are running a company this statement will mark the defining line between acceptable and unacceptable corporate behaviour
Learning how to define your values for effective goal-setting is just the start. Assessing your values is an ongoing process. It’s normal for your values and society’s values to develop over time. Stay true to yourself and strive to align your actions with your values for a more fulfilling and authentic life.
