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Unpopular opinion: Personal values are vastly underrated! They greatly support you in living a life that suits YOU and makes you happy. Let’s look at 7 benefits of personal values today!
What even are personal values?
In short, personal values are a summary of what’s important to you. They look different for everyone, and there’s no right or wrong. Sometimes, they’re called “core values”.
Personal values are with you every day, whether you are aware of them or not. They are the North Star in your life—if you follow them, you will feel at home, and find the path that is right for you. This doesn’t mean that your life will suddenly become easy… But you will always have a direction to follow. It’s so much easier to live your life knowing what you want and what’s important to you than wandering around aimlessly while being a victim of the “shiny things” syndrome. (Yep, been there, done that! Oops.) Or, much worse: Doing things that feel so wrong it hurts but you do them anyway because your mind tries to convince you they are the right thing to do.
You may have come across certain values before. Some common and often mentioned personal values are the following:
- Authenticity
- Courage
- Creativity
- Discipline
- Family
- Freedom
- Love
- Wisdom
According to Google on the day I’m writing this, there are approximately two billion and seventy million lists on the World Wide Web that give you ideas about what personal values can be. (Whew, that’s a lot.) So, I don’t want to provide you with another list of values.
Let’s now get to the exciting point: What are the benefits of personal values? In other words: Why should you be interested in personal values at all, and make an effort to get to know your values? (If you’re already interested in understanding individual values better and identifying your values, read this article in full—I’ve got something for you towards the end!)
What are the benefits of personal values?
Let’s take a look at some benefits—to be precise, let’s discuss 7 of the benefits of personal values. Let me tell you, it wasn’t that easy to settle on 7 benefits only… As you might can tell, I’m a huge advocate of personal values!
Benefit #1: It’s self-care
Have you been running on fumes for a while now? Every cell in your body is tired from work… you’re dragging yourself home, and your brain activity resembles that of a zombie. It could hail pigs and you wouldn’t care. And no sooner are you home than a mountain of laundry is waiting for you, your feet are sticking to the kitchen floor, and your cat is meowing earsplittingly at you because it needs someone to open a can of food.
Wouldn’t it be nice to just drop everything (except the cat, of course), and do something for yourself in such moments? It sounds counterintuitive at first. But:
Sitting down and taking time to engage with yourself and your inner life is a form of self-care. By doing this, you are not only doing your own health a favour, but also those around you. If you take good care of yourself, you “fill your cup” as the saying goes, and you can better engage with and care for those around you. So it’s a win-win situation.
If you sit down and identify and reflect on your values, you are not only doing something for yourself at this moment. You’re working out a roadmap, so to speak, that can guide you through your life.
Benefit #2: You get out of autopilot mode
Do you know the autopilot mode in life? It describes a lifestyle that consists of routines and automatisms: Your days look more or less always the same, you hardly have any variety in life, no more sense for little joys and small things. Life rushes past you while you do other things. At the end of the month, you usually wonder what you have actually done and achieved this month.
Personal values can be a first step towards a conscious and self-determined life. They show you in which areas of your life you are not yet living in accordance with your values. Maybe they show you that you’re not living your life according to your values at all, and can thus give you a possible reason and explanation for lack of happiness and fulfilment.
Reminder: Live, don’t merely exist! Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
Benefit #3: Your personality becomes more tangible
If you have lived your life until now as if you were an extra rather than the main character, it may not be easy for you to see your personality. What’s genuinely part of you, and which parts did you adopt to fit in? Personal values can help you define your personality and put a name to things. This may seem insignificant, but give it a try with these example questions! Feel free to change the example values to things that are important to you.
- How would a version of you who cares about integrity react in disagreements?
- How would an ambitious version of you behave?
- How would a version of you that values relationships behave?
Can you feel how images form in your mind when you ask yourself these questions? Play through the example with your values, and see how you suddenly get new ideas and a different feeling about yourself.
Benefit #4: You get better at making decisions
Personal values will enable you to make better decisions. Maybe this sounds like a huge, unconquerable mountain to you: You and making good decisions? Maybe you’ve been stumbling through life instead of walking purposefully. If you identify your values, you have a compass in your hand.
Let’s say a friend spontaneously wants to do something with you. Actually, you still have a lot to do at work, and your home is also in chaos. The question of priority soon pops up, among other things: What is more important to you—relationships, work, tidiness or something else?
If you have thought about your values, you will (hopefully) be able to answer this question. It’s okay if you don’t know the answer right away, and if it’s not easy for you. Some values may be equally important to you. That’s why it’s a huge plus if you define your top 3-5 values, and don’t live by a list of 20 values!
Let’s say you decide to meet your friend. Maybe you feel guilty about ending work early and leaving a messy home. But it will probably feel good for you in the long run if you have acted with integrity, and done something that is important to you.
Benefit #5: You know what to focus on
This benefit goes hand in hand with No. 4, making decisions. If you are aware of your values, you can focus on what is important to you. And not only when something comes up spontaneously.
You can use your values for your weekly, monthly and annual planning, and for your goal-setting process. Take your list of personal values, and look at how you can integrate them into your everyday life and into your goals.
For example, ask yourself:
- What do you want to focus on in your personal life, and which values play a role in this?
- What do you want to focus on at work, and which values play a role in this?
- What goals do you want to achieve, and which values play a role in this?
Incorporate your values next time you sit down to do your planning. Photo by Covene on Unsplash
Benefit #6: Your journaling will become more meaningful
Not only do your personal values help you plan and set goals, they also help you journal.
If you are aware of your personal values, you will no longer sit in front of a blank sheet of paper wondering what to write about. You can use these questions regularly to reflect on your values:
- How much have I lived by my personal values [today | this week | this month | this year]?
- Which values were present [today | this week | this month | this year]?
- Which values do I wish I had paid more attention to [today | this week | this month | this year]?
Are you not sure how to get started with journaling? I provide you with 3 easy tips to get started in this blog article.
The questions aren’t enough and you’d like more variety? Be sure to check out the JOURNALING JOURNEY Prompt List. There are over 72 different questions waiting for you!
The JOURNALING JOURNEY: 72 journaling prompts for 9 different life areas.
Benefit #7: You will become more self-compassionate & self-confident
All the previously mentioned benefits of personal values will lead you to understand yourself better. You will learn what is important to you, what you want to focus on, and how you want to shape your planning, your goals and ultimately your life. This leads to more self-compassion, which I think is a very important trait. The world is already hard enough—we don’t need to be hard on ourselves, too!
Another nice side effect is that it also leads to more self-confidence in the long run.
How can you identify your personal values?
Did these benefits of personal values convince you, and are you now wondering how YOU can define your values? I have created a Notion template for this very purpose: THE VALUE VAULT. It guides you through all the steps necessary to know your 3-5 top values at the end. It makes sure that you get all the benefits of personal values that are mentioned in this blog post.
Now available: THE VALUE VAULT helps you explore and discover your personal values.
I hope these benefits of personal values convinced you to work on your own values. If you identify your values, let me know how it worked out for you!
Title Image Credit: Daniel Gonzalez on Unsplash