Tools to help you define your values and beliefs:
Creating a list: Start with creating a list of your values. I have included a few different exercises you might try to help you identify your values. When doing these exercises there are a few rules:
1. Don’t Sensor your self or edit your answers while creating the list. This is a brainstorming session and you need to write everything down
2. Include Everything even values which you do not currently have. For example if you value Love and you are not in a loving relationship you still need to include love.
3. Be Honest and Truthful with yourself
-Exercise 1: Just sit in a quiet place and repeatedly ask yourself the question ?What is important to me in life?? Write the answers down as they come to you.
-Exercise 2: You can visit the following website and use their technique. The have a list of about 30 ‘values’ and suggest that you pick the 20 that most speak to you. If a value you know you have is not on the list then use it also. http://www.myvisionportal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56&Itemid=10
-Exercise 3: Think back to a time when you were really motivated to do something. Was it a hiking trip, a journey, a task? While thinking about this task ask yourself “what was my primary motivation?” The Emotional response to this is surely a core value for you. Write it down.
With these exercises when you have your 20 or so values, now ask your self, “Do these values represent who I really am?” Next compare them to each other and number them from most important to least important. The goal here is to identify your top 5 values.
The Franklin Covey Website:
On their website about creating a personal mission statement they have an application which can provide some in-site. The application you are interested in is called “Mission Kickstart”. This application can help you identify 10 of your values and then it gets you to create “action” statements on how you will honor these values in your life. Essentially it goes from values to creating a beginner mission statement. For the Purpose of this exercise I am using it to help me identify my values.
To use this tool here are instructions on how to get started:
1. You will need the flash player installed. Go to http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash to get this player if you don’t already have it.
2. Next go to the Franklin Covey application:http://www.franklincovey.com/missionbuilder/flash/missionIntro.html?c=MissionStmntC
3. This will start its introduction playing.
4. Once the Introduction is over you will be asked for your name and email address so they can mail you your work. Enter your name and a valid email address and click submit.
5. If you get a message “There was a problem submitting your information” go on to step 6 if you do not get this message and instead a menu of choices appears then you are good to go.
6. To get the application running do the following: a. Right-Click (Macintosh users ctrl-click) anywhere on the image of the road and select Play FC_Image_2
7. Now you will have the menu choices to select from
8. For defining your Values select Mission Kickstart and follow the instructions: FC_Image_6
My Process: Tools and Used and the results.
I chose a combination of exercises to identify my values.
Firstly I sat and meditated on what I thought was important to me and what value it illustrated. I also thought about why I was on this path and why it was important to me. From this I gathered the following:
a. success
b. marriage
c. Service
d. Leadership
e. Balance
f. Rounded
g. complete
h. whole
i. Love
j. being
k. focus
l. strength
m. wisdom
n. accountability
o. Honesty
p. Trust
q. un-embarrassed
r. sharing
s. I no longer want to hide who I am.
t. Authenticity
u. Contribution
v. Enthusiasm
I then went through the word list and selected the following words:
a. Trust
b. Honor
c. Authenticity
d. Commitment
e. Family
f. Communication
g. Wisdom
h. Service
i. Accountability
j. Community
k. co-opetition
l. Courage
m. Creativity
n. Discipline
o. Discovery
p. Faith
q. Integrity
r. Sexuality
Then I went through the Franklin Covey exercises and identified the following:
a. Perseverance
b. Wife/Family
c. Marriage
d. Friends
e. Supportive
f. Challenging
g. Each Other (community)
h. Courage
i. Intelligence
j. Beauty
k. Tenacious
l. My Hearts Desires
m. Love your Self
n. Generosity
o. Wisdom
From all of these exercises which I’ve used to identify what I value I then prioritized them to get my top five or Five Core Values. Part of this prioritization was to look at values which appeared on all three lists as it seemed that they were certainly important to me. After meditating on these values for a while I came up with 5 which are:
a. Accountability
b. Authenticity
c. Community/Contribution
d. Courage
e. Marriage/Family
With these I then identified my beliefs which are
a. Marriage/Family: To care for and nurture my marriage and my family, providing support, love, protection and leadership.
b. Courage: To pursue every action I choose with courage and devotion
c. Accountability: To consciously choose my actions and to be accountable for the consequences
d. Authenticity: I want to be my truest and best self. To stand as a Man and believe with my whole being that I make positive changes in the world
e. Community/Contribution: To be of service to my self and to others that we may live to our highest selves
I have printed these out so that I can look at them every day and feel into how ‘right’ or not these are. If some are not right I can then go back and better identify my core values and beliefs. When I’m satisfied with these and I will move on to Visioning.
Conclusion:
Now that I have gone through these processes I found for my self the best combination was meditating on what is important to me along with selecting from the list of values. While the Franklin Covey is flashy I did not feel that it provided the tools which helped me do my work, but that is not to say that this tool would not work for some. Try it out and decide for your self.
