Your values are your energy source - Here's how to tap into them
In our fast-paced world, it's all too easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of daily life, leaving us feeling overwhelmed, drained, and close to burnout.
But what if there was a way to sustain our motivation, energy, and peace of mind, that didn't involve doing more?
Good news - there is a way, and it involves living aligned with our core values.
One clue to that is research on burnout, where it’s been found that beyond the amount of workload, the lack of meaning and/or the lack of valued relationships at work contribute significantly to people getting burnt out. And a sense of meaning is what we feel when our values are present in our daily lives.
In this video, I explored the concept of living our values as the foundation for both moment-to-moment wellbeing and long-term fulfillment.
Now let's dive deeper into how aligning our actions with our core values can help us navigate the demands of modern life with calm and resilience.
Values are energising and motivating
Words have power. If you think about or say a word, this conjures up a mental concept you have about it and unleashes a whole cascade of physical reactions in your body - making you feel a certain way, and prompting further thoughts.
So as an experiment, if you say something that isn't your value, like *greed* - notice how that word feels in your body. It's probably uncomfortable in some way.
And now say something to yourself that you deeply value. For example, two of my top values are *joy* and *love*. What are yours?
Say them to yourself, in your mind or out loud, and feel how the words feel in your body. Each one will feel different within you. Like striking a different chord on an instrument.
How you make yourself feel with your own thinking (by what you focus on) is crucially important to how you experience your life, and what you feel capable of doing. It's essential to take charge of your focus if you want to create a life by design, not on autopilot.
So, focusing on things like your values is a great daily practice. You can write them down, think about them, or have them visible somewhere in your environment so you can be reminded of them every time you pass by (anything from a vision board to a humble post-it note with your values on will do).
In addition to making us feel good, values have been shown to increase people's motivation to achieve their goals. Even if they seem unrelated to what the goal even is.
In one study, people who were reminded of their values daily (via a text message) were significantly more successful in achieving their goals.
I believe this is because referring to our values puts us in touch with our best qualities, things that matter to us, the qualities we admire and aim to cultivate intentionally. This helps us be the person we wish to be and take actions that we’ve committed to.
What a great reason to know your values and refer to them daily.
If you want support in clarifying your core values - download the step-by-step guide I created:
Values are a part of our inner compass
Inner compass is a sense of orientation within each of us that lets us know whether the direction we're going in is aligned with where we truly want to go.
Values form part of this compass. We can directly ask ourselves - does this goal meet my values? Or, does this decision support or conflict with my values?
When we aren't aware of our values, we can often go in the opposite direction, not knowing why it’s not working for us. We may be unconsciously following the values of our family, society, etc. that we’ve absorbed early in life and not properly questioned.
Think about it - how often were you faced with a decision, and you based it on what you thought you *should* do instead of what really mattered to you?
Without being grounded in our values, we can make big strides in the wrong direction, end up unsatisfied, and then wonder how that happened.
When we approach our goal-setting and our decision-making with values in mind, we ask ourselves, "What do I actually hope to achieve by going in this direction?" Remember, when we’re pursuing goals, we’re always after the values, never the surface results of the goals we aim to achieve.
The clearer you are on the values you're actually after, the better goals you will set, and for the right reasons. Which means you’re also more likely to stick to and achieve them!
Values make our life path meaningful
Do you rush through your days on autopilot, reacting to one demand after another, without pausing to consider whether your actions are truly aligned with what matters to you most?
By being aware of your values, you can consciously choose how you want to show up in the world.
To illustrate this, I recall how during the Covid pandemic I made a list of my top 3 values, put them up on a wall, and referred to them daily. There it was, my list: Love - Growth - Joy. Just reading it made me feel warm and strong inside, no matter what was happening on the outside.
But it also helped me to act in line with them. For instance, when I went shopping, and there was a shortage of so many things, people panic buying – I chose to act out of my value of love, only taking what I needed, because acting out of love meant I cared about the next person who also needed supplies.
Now, take a moment to pause, breathe, and reflect on what your core values are:
What truly matters to you?
What drives you?
And why is that so important to you?
Write down what comes up, and if you want, sort the values that arose in order of priority. Which one could you not live without? Which one would you keep if you could only have one value for the rest of your life? Which of your values are currently present in your life, and which ones feel neglected or missing?
You can journal about what each of them means to you too. Because to someone else, “freedom” (or “creativity”, or “connection”) might mean something else than it does to you.
Notice how you feel after you've spent some time reflecting and connecting with your values.
Then, keep the list of your top 3 - 5 values somewhere visible as a daily reminder. Whenever you find yourself feeling overwhelmed or off-center, return to these values as your guiding star.
But living our values isn't just about the here and now—it's about having a long-term perspective too. It's about making choices today that align with our vision for the future and contribute to a life we can be proud of.
Finally, I invite you to experiment:
What one small step can you take today to live more in line with just one of your values? Write the possibilities down. Then pick one and put it into action in the next 24 hours.
Download my *Know Your Values* sheet if you want guidance in clarifying what your key values are. And remember that as we evolve and change, some of our values will evolve and change too.
Wishing you well,
Mojca
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