Have you ever thought about how your best self would live her life? Or maybe you walk around every day feeling like you don’t have any real direction. If you don’t create core values for yourself, you may start to feel aimless and create bad habits.
Core values are what guide our every action and allow us to live in alignment with who we aspire to be.
When you are crystal clear on how you want to live and create core values that reflects your desires, you begin to trust yourself more, gain self-esteem, and make decisions much easier than if you have never identified your core values.
If you feel like you are lost and directionless, it may be a sign that you need to create core values for yourself.
This post is all about how to create core values to live your best life.
How To Create Core Values
1. List out everything you value
While it can feel hard to create core values, we should all know a general list of things that we value. Take a few minutes to write out everything that you value in life.
To get you started on writing your list think about what traits you admire in other people. What do you find yourself wishing you had more of in your life?
2. Create groups of values
Now that you have created a list of everything you value in life, create groups of similar values. This will make your list smaller and feel much less overwhelming than the original list that feels impossible to live up to.
For example, you can group traits like kindness, friendliness, and approachability together. Go through the list and create groups for all of the traits.
3. Visualize your best self
Now take some time to think about your best self. What does she do every day? How does she treat and interact with others? Close your eyes and truly feel how it feels to embody your best self.
Once you have thought about who you are as the best version of yourself, think about what makes you happiest. What is most important to you in your life that makes you feel most fulfilled? Maybe you prioritize health or love to learn new things.
4. Identify your top core values
Taking each of the above steps, you can now identify your top core values. Even after grouping similar values and visualizing your best self, it might be difficult for you to narrow down your top core values. In order to make it a little easier, ask yourself:
- What traits do I see in others that I instantly admire?
- Which traits are absolutely essential to become your best self?
- Are there any traits/values that I naturally possess and like?
There is no special number of core values that you need to have. It is important for you to choose what feels best for you. I would recommend enough to give you direction in life but not so many that you become overwhelmed.
5. Give context your your core values
Now that you have picked out the core values that you want to embody, it’s important to give them meaning. This will remind you of why they are important to you when life happens.
If you choose “joy” as a core value, what does that mean to you? Maybe the context of your core value of joy would be to enjoy the small things and live in the present. You decide what it means and why it is important to you!
6. Embody your core values
Finally! It is time to live out the core values you have created for yourself. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, it is hard to have direction for your life if you don’t know where you are going. Having these core values will fill you with purpose if you allow it!
Now is the time that we create a game plan for you to implement and embody your new top core values.
First, write out a list of each of the tope core values you decided on in step 4. Next to each of the values identify the level of satisfaction you have with each one. I like to use a scale of 1-10 with 1 being “least satisfied” and 10 being “I absolutely love where I am at with this value.”
Once you have a number for each value you can decide which values you need to work on more. Create an action plan that helps you improve the values that scored lower.
What can you do to honor the value more? Decide on your goals and break down the steps to actually make it happen.
Once you have created your plan for making sure you’re getting closer to the best version of yourself, your values will start leading your decisions and actions.
