I was working with a coaching client once, when they admitted to me sheepishly that they "didn't know their core values."
My immediate response: "It's not as uncommon as you think." And...it's not.
Our core values are the root beliefs that a person or organization operates from. They are the principle perspectives that guide a person or organization's behavior with others. Often, they're something you feel, not something you're used to putting a name to. They're standards of behavior—like curiosity, positivity, resilience, integrity, honesty, and more.
It's also easy to confuse what we love with what our values are. We might love our family, or care about animals—but that's not quite the same thing as a core value. Our values are connected to our love for things, but are not quite the same.
If you freeze up when you get asked what your core values are, here are some ways you can start to identify them:
✔️ Identify the times when you were the most proud, happy or fulfilled
✔️ Based on those experiences, you’ll be able to determine your top values
✔️ From there, you can prioritize your top values in order of importance and narrow down what is the most important to you
When you know your own values and what is truly important, you can use them to make decisions about how to live your life.
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