Want to have, be, and do more? Want to stretch time?
We’ve heard it over and over – each of us have the same 24 hours a day, it’s how we spend our 24 hours that is key to high performance and personal fulfilment.
Yet, have you ever felt that despite being organised, rested, reasonably in control, and knowing what you need to do, that you still have untouched goals and uncompleted tasks? Perhaps you have elements of your job that frustrate you and even though you know that doing them will propel you forward, you rarely get to them.
Managers – quite possibly, you’ve had to micromanage people in your team in order to get certain elements of their job done well and on time.
Regardless of age, gender, culture and job position, we all live by a set of values that are most important to us. We are intrinsically inspired to do whatever is highest on our set of values – we require no outside motivation, no extra incentives, no reminding. But as we go down the set of values, we require increased external motivation and follow-up to get those tasks done.
When we implicitly understand how a goal or task (be that a long-term goal, a job responsibility or a daily task) is aligned with our most important values, we have the highest probability of focus, stamina, resilience, achievement and self-governance. In other words, understanding how something is aligned with our values is the ultimate strategy to optimise focus, stretch time and ensure high performance and personal fulfilment.
What are values?
The word ‘values’ conjures different meanings and interpretations. Many people automatically think of core values – generally seen as a quality, virtue, principle or belief that a person or organisation views as being of central importance; these values act as a moral compass. Honesty and integrity are two examples of core values.
Alongside core values are life values. The Oxford English Dictionary defines this as “One’s judgement of what is important in life.” Enjoying lasting relationships with family and friends is an example of an important life value.
While both understandings are useful to clarify, it is specifically the insight into one’s key life values that is most helpful in enhancing performance, engagement and satisfaction.
How do we clarify our values?
If you conduct an internet search on “how to clarify values” you’ll find many sources recommend reviewing comprehensive lists of core values and reflecting and journaling to distil hundreds of suggested words down to about six values that feel most significant. It’s quite a task!
In contrast, the Demartini Value Determination Process® is a practical way to identify what you judge as being important in life. This free online tool takes you through 13 questions to identify your key life values. This tool is used in iMastery’s masterclass, Working Into Our Individual Priorities & Life Values, and is a resource I recommend you try.
How does clarifying my life values enhance my success and fulfilment at work?
By clarifying your key life values, you can then re-work or backwards engineer your work goals/tasks so that they link to these values. The main way to do this is by noting 20 or more reasons a specific work goal/task assists you to fulfill your life priorities.
For example, imagine your key life values are:
1) Taking care of your family (spouse and kids)
2) Career growth and success
3) Enjoying socialising with friends.
Now, consider tasks on your to-do list that you have delayed doing – perhaps your manager asked you to build a professional network of senior managers within your industry. Due to other work pressures and a lack of initial interest, you’ve avoided starting this task. But, if you review how this task aligns to your key life values, you will be more likely to start and successfully complete the task.
You could re-align this task by noting that building a professional network of senior managers:
- Could open up future job and career prospects
- May lead to a promotion and/or increased salary (which could financially assist your family)
- Will allow you to socialise with like-minded people who could potentially become friends
- Taking on this challenging task sets a good example for your children.
All of these points link back to your life values. By actively noting how this task fulfills your life-values, the probability of successfully achieving it is massively increased!
Whilst it’s possible to do this exercise on your own, it does take time and discipline. Working with a coach will fast track results and will provide more in-depth comprehension. This can also help managers and business owners to understand that individuals within a team each have unique personal life values; knowing this allows you to cater work assignments and tasks to your team members.
Email me to discover how iMastery’s values-based training and coaching can support you and/or your team to clarify values and further elevate employee engagement, productivity and profitability. I look forward to hearing from you.
