Valu-able

One of the current trends in coaching and some counselling is the discovery of personal values  which you build a lifestyle framework upon. I personally like this style of planning, living out of your values makes perfect sense to me.




So when it comes to making choices and decisions on of the top priority questions is how does this fit with my values. Do I have to compromise what I believe in.

So the identification of ones values becomes key to forming your framework.

The basic question is what do I value? They may be as varied as appreciation and wealth. This will mean the we value appreciation of ourselves but we also appreciate others. So our decisions on a daily basis will mean that we show appreciation of others as much as possible, it also means that we seek out people who appreciate us. If we were to look at wealth. We might make decisions on how does this effect our existing wealth or will it make us more wealth. We may respect and appreciate people who are wealthy.
Sometimes some of the values would appear to be very similar such appreciation and recognition. The same to have the same basic concept but to me the subtle difference is that appreciation is a private process while recognition may be a more public validation.

So what would be the benefits of this process? There are a couple of key ones for me:

1. This tends to a holistic process that can be overlaid over most aspects of life.
2. It is a process that means we don't have to ruled by our emotions or desires. We apply rational thought to our decisions.
3.  Most the identification processes tend to rank the values in top ten or top five order. This allows you to prioritise decisions when values may appear to be competing. For example when you might value wealth and integrity and your opportunity requires you to bend the rules or law a little. There is a clash of values. So which do you value most your integrity or acquiring wealth. Different people come up with different answers depending on which of the values holds a higher personal standing.

As I said I find this a great way to do life and make decisions it allows to maintain my inner self respect and balance more easily.