The Importance of Values
Since training as an NLP coach in 2009, during the years, some of the most powerful coaching sessions have been through establishing people’s Values – these are the things which are really important to us and drive our motivations. They do change within different contexts – for example, work, home life, family and hobbies.
My values and how they play out are as follows:
- Self worth – everything I do needs to add to my learning and personal growth
- Adventure – work projects have to be a ‘little bit difficult’ so I can learn as result
- Creativity – particularly with training projects, I like to be given an overall outcome to work towards and to be creative in how I devise new material and ways to address learning needs
- Fun – learning and development must always be fun and enjoyable – both for me and learners
- Freedom – most importantly, I like to be free to choose the clients I wish to work with and they will need to have similar work values to my own
How to establish your own values
A great resource I use in coaching and leadership training courses, is a set of Personal Values cards produced by Two Bald Blokes – www.twobaldblokes.com
You can use these cards in different contexts – just be sure to decide on that context first.
How knowing your values helps in your life
- Valuing ourselves – instead of valuing ourselves and each other on the basis of materialistic items or even comparing ourselves with others, it is great to determine the unique things which make us tick, the things which motivate and inspire us. Ultimately it is who we are and how we behave in accordance with our values which matters.
- Understanding our feelings and emotional responses – occasionally we will react to things and wonder what on earth triggered that response, particularly if was a strong or emotional reaction. When we know our values, it gives us the opportunity to pause, recognise that one of them may have been compromised and instead of reacting, we can choose to respond more positively and constructively.
- Recognising the differences between people – everyone has different values and by learning to respect our differences enables a life of greater peace, understanding and tolerance – celebrating differences is much kinder than becoming frustrated by them.
- Decision making – when making important decisions in our lives, we must make sure we take our values into consideration. If your intuition is telling you something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t and has something to do with your values. Take the time to listen to that intuition before leaping in and regretting that decision later.
- Where to focus your time – give your values the love and respect they deserve. You will feel most fulfilled when you devote time and energy to them – live your life according to your values – not other people’s, especially if they say ‘you should do this or that’ – that is about them and not you.
So go forth – live your life according to the things which are important to you