Vision pulls. Values steer. Strengths fuel.
—TAMMY FAULDS
1. Find a quiet space, clear your head with some deep breathing, and connect your mind and body. Most important: do not rush the process. Start by making a sacred time and space to do the exercise—say, thirty to sixty minutes.
2. Look at the list of values and circle the words that jump off the page and feel good to you.
3. Take a short break to connect with your breath again. Close your eyes and think about a time in your life when you felt fantastic, in the flow, and like everything was right in the world. Feel all the sensations and breathe those sensations into every cell of your body. Then open your eyes and go back through the circled list with that vision in mind. Which of those values were prominent in that scenario? Place a star next to those.
4. From the starred list, grab a highlighter and see if there are any values that are similar in scope and try to pair them off. Perhaps you have truth and honesty on the list… what do those words mean to you personally? How does the dictionary define them? Can you think of situations in which truth or honesty have played a role? Pit them against each other and see which one resonates more deeply with you.
5. Keep whittling your list down until you get to five to ten values. I ended up sorting my list into five “hard” values and a few supportive “soft” values. For example, rest is a hard value and supporting that are balance and health, because if I’m rested, then I feel balanced and healthy, and if I am not rested, well, consider yourself warned.
6. A final filter I like to throw on it is, “If money weren’t a concern, would these values still resonate?” Or you might ask yourself, “Would I put up a fight or go to war to defend this value?”
7. Shelve it and walk away from it, but keep those values in your mind as you move through the week. See if they show up in your daily interactions. At the end of the week, revisit your list of values again and see if they still resonate. Once you feel you’ve solidified your list of core values, write them down in your phone, on a Post-it note, or somewhere else where you’ll see them. Know that you can always tweak them later if need be.
Tammy Faulds is a holistic life coach based in Toronto, Canada. A certified professional coach, 500-hour Registered Yoga Teacher, The Daring Way™ facilitator, and meditation teacher, Tammy coaches people who have found success in their lives but are seeking deeper fulfillment and connection.