Why it is important to set your personal core values

Choosing your personal core values is one of the critical focusing decisions that can make an amazing difference in how you live your life. As a person, they reflect the fundamental choices of who we want to be. Having well defined personal core values helps us avoid making choices that work against who we want to be. Our values become a clear set of guidelines for our words and actions, consistently moving us in the direction aligned with our core beliefs and vision.We derive a sense of fulfillment when living our personal values because our motivations and actions are aligned with the aspirations of who we want to be. If you do not take the time to figure out what your core values and standards are, you can easily undermine your own success without even realizing it.

If you want to have a life that feels satisfying and worthwhile, you must be clear on what is right and what is wrong according to your personal code of ethics. That’s what forms the bases of your core values.

Here are some criteria that might help in selecting your personal core values.

• Consistent with my personal vision, mission, and core beliefs -You can use this criteria as a way to eliminate personal values that are inconsistent with your other decisions.

• Inspirational – Personal values should encourage you to fulfill your purpose in life. Great personal values, read every day, will provide an uplift and motivation to take on the day’s challenges.

• Unique – Your values need to speak to you. Don’t hesitate to use values learned from others, but your core values should help define who you are and want to be. They should reflect the priorities for your life and will tend to emphasize your strengths while compensating for your weaknesses.

• Provides guidance – Personal core values should help you in your everyday decisions, particularly with relationships.

• Long lasting – This is about creating your future. Expect that your values will evolve as you grow, mature and gain life experience.

• Meaningful and rewarding – Values provide the measures that help us live meaningful lives that fulfill our given purpose. Living a life of meaning brings us joy.

Before we start setting goals or choosing a direction for our life, we need to align with our personal core values and get very clear on what is acceptable and what is unacceptable.  That means we need to take the time to figure out who we are and what we stand for.

Let me cite personal examples; Among my core values are:

1. Hospitality: It’s vitally important to me to show love everywhere and in any way I can. The world is already full of hate, cruelty and the likes. I feel a sense of fulfillment seeing that someone is happy or smiling around me. So I try to welcome people, show them love, understand their needs and offer to help them to meet those needs. This core value reminds me that if I let others know I value them, they will most likely have a similar feeling about me.

2. Respect: There isn’t much to be added here. Respect, they say, is reciprocal. I like that a relationship is clearly defined and the two parties respect boundaries.

Choosing and knowing your personal values can provide a number of benefits including:

• Reducing stress
• Making better decisions
• Finding environments and people that support your aspirations
• Increasing joy and happiness
• Supporting your growth and development
• Growing contribution and value
• Providing motivation

Living in harmony with your core values and standards will help bring a deep sense of satisfaction to everything you do in life. Personal core values are at the very core of your being. They are the values you hold closest to your heart, the values that resonate most completely with your soul.

What are your personal core values and how did you set them? Share with us in the comment section.