Values Aligned Goal Setting - Part 1 Identifying Core Values
Goal setting can be an incredibly inspiring and motivating process that drives us to grow. It can also be frustrating, however, to stall, not experience progress, and then ultimately abandon a goal. This can sometimes create limiting beliefs around worthiness, abilities to complete projects, and lack of discipline - especially if we have regularly set goals and then failed to achieve them time and time again.
We also receive a lot of messages about what we should set goals around - career advancement, health & fitness, finances, life milestones etc. Building goals around these “shoulds” sets us up to feel guilt and shame when we don’t progress or fulfill these goals. We can end up comparing ourselves to others, and then just feeding those limiting beliefs about not being enough. The “shoulds” also add extra pressure of others’ expectations (even if we have created those expectations in our heads), which makes us not even want to attempt to progress on the goal in the first place.
What would happen, though, if we aligned our goals with what really matters to us? What if our goals were personalized and centered on the most important pillars of our lives? What if we focused on progress over perfection, and sought to work towards things that are deeply meaningful to us, versus things our social media feeds or external influences are telling us we should achieve?
That would feel pretty great, right? And I am guessing, also pretty motivating?
This is the magic of values aligned goal setting. By working through clarifying your core values, and creating goals connected to those values, you are able to let go of those external “shoulds” and are much more motivated to work towards achievements that are meaningfully connected to you. As this method of goal setting is personalized, it is very flexible and open and can help you develop long-term intentions, clarify projects, and build life practices.
So how do we make values aligned goals?? We’ll get into each step of the process in this blog series, starting with the first step of identifying and clarifying your core values.
Identify Core Values
If you have not already done so, it is helpful to take some time to reflect and identify your core values. Even if you have a good idea of what your values are, it can be helpful to seasonally reflect and see if anything has changed or if you have new values that are coming to the surface.
There are many different ways to identify your values. You can look up and review lists of values words, circling those that are most important to you and then narrowing them down to a core group of those things central to you and your life. Some reflection questions that may help with the process include:
What emotions came up for you as you were reviewing the words?
How did you choose the words that you selected?
What do these values look like in your life?
What values are more aspirant and you would want to develop more?
How do you communicate or share these values with others?
You can also do some visioning exercises, thinking about either the previous year or the year ahead (it can be past or future focused -- whatever speaks to you!) and imagining yourself reflecting on that year’s happenings and accomplishments. Think about the following questions:
What are the things that are coming to mind?
What are your top three accomplishments?
What are you most proud of?
What themes can you identify across all your accomplishments?
What do those themes tell you about your values?
Definitely get into this visioning reflection and think about how those things that matter to you most show up as you think about your accomplishments and the way you live your life throughout a year.
There are many other ways to identify your core values in addition to these activities. Sometimes it is helpful to ask people you are close to how they perceive you as this can uncover values you hadn’t thought about, or generally are more implicit. One of my biggest values is joy, which I originally did not realize until others shared with me how they appreciated my positivity and joyful presence.
I would love to hear about your values reflection process - How did it go? What surprised you? What did you learn about yourself? Feel free to send me an email at corron.amy@gmail.com or connect with me on Instagram @amersy
In the next part of the series, we will get into creating goals aligned with our values (hint: we are ditching the SMART acronym…)