Creating Your Values and Beliefs
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."
-Abraham Lincoln
Create the foundation before you focus on the outcome.
Before you can dream up and set out to accomplish what you desire most as a long term goal, you have to start by defining your values and beliefs.
Values are how you set your standard for what you define as good vs bad, beautiful vs ugly, and the thing you strive for vs avoid. Values are the things you have learned from your parents, friends, teachers, people in your community, and those you look up to and admire.
Tips to Define Your Values:
Identify and write down all the people who have impacted you in your life, those you respect, and those you love.
Make a list of the qualities that you admire most about each person.
Circle all the characteristics, behaviors, and actions that you would like to emulate.
Identify your top four to five qualities.
These top four or five qualities are your core values.
Values are your passion and purpose, the words you live by. It’s how you talk your talk.
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Beliefs are your actions, they are the things you do that validate your core values be it how you act each day or what takes priority when faced with difficult decisions. Identifying your beliefs help you to understand what you want, what you are willing to give up, and the things that are important to you.
Tips to Identify Your Beliefs
Think of and write down times in your life when you lived up to these values. This includes times when you stood up for someone or for something, peak experiences, and moments of failure.
Think about the little things you do each day to either live up to these values or not.
It’s important to ask those you trust to critique you as well.
To break it down even more, Beliefs are the habits that define you. It’s how you walk your walk.
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Defining your values and creating habits that solidify your beliefs allow you to act with integrity. Once you are able to act with integrity, you will have a clearer picture of how to create and work toward accomplishing your goals.
In the end, how you talk your talk and walk your walk determines your priorities, provides you with meaning, and it serves as your inspiration when you are faced with adversity.