Welcome to 2024, have you taken a minute yet to think about what 2024 might mean to you? Are you working, moving, breathing inline with your personal values?
What are Values? Whether you’re deciding to make a career change or trying to make space for more self-care, defining your personal values can act as a guide. But what’s the meaning of personal values, and how can you identify yours?
You might not have a list of values sitting in your desk drawer. But the choices you’ve made throughout your life likely point to a pattern of priorities.
Let’s say you value reaching certain professional milestones over excelling at your fitness goals. A new job offer comes your way. The recruiter explains that the schedule is demanding, and the job responsibilities have a steep learning curve. But it’ll push you to grow your career in transformative ways. If you place a high value on your work goals, you’ll probably say “Yes,” even if it means stepping back from the 5K run you were training for.
There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to your personal values. Your true values can’t and shouldn’t be suppressed. They make life fulfilling and give you a better sense of self-awareness. Without a clear understanding of them, you might struggle with self-discovery — the process of finding your true self. As a result, you may find it hard to make decisions, advance your career, or live a meaningful life.
What's the meaning of personal values?
Personal values are a set of guiding principles and beliefs that help you differentiate between “good” and “bad.” These are concepts like integrity versus dishonesty or hard work versus cutting corners. Everyone prioritizes their core values differently, and yours shape how you uniquely move through the world.
Personal values influence your behaviors, relationships, and everyday life. They guide you through important decision-making, influence personal development, and carve your ideal career path.
Everyone has a unique set of values. What matters to you might not align with your friends and coworkers. But you’re more likely to share personal core values with the people closest to you.
Research shows that you might even be more attracted to people who share your values. Partners, colleagues, and family members that share yours are big green flags for long-lasting relationships. Everyone expresses these values differently. Say you and your coworker both value community. Maybe you practice altruism and organize a company-wide food drive while your coworker plans leadership training for the whole team. These are both valid expressions of the same value.
You may not be fully aware of your values, and identifying them can help you develop your career, cultivate interpersonal relationships, and spend your free time more purposefully. Understanding what’s important to you can help you align your actions with your inner self.
And this awareness helps you trim the toxic relationships, jobs, or situations that drain your energy so you can live your happiest life. It might even help you feel more fulfilled, since engaging in activities aligned with your values can ease depression and anxiety and improve your mental well-being.
Plus, having a career that reflects the types of values that are important to you can make you more passionate and purposeful in your work. This will ultimately help you succeed in your profession because you’ll have a deeper motivation to do well.
8 benefits of personal values
Personal values touch every aspect of your life. Besides improving your self-awareness and relationships, here are eight ways prioritizing your values can benefit your daily life:
Provides you with a vision that informs long-term goals
Creates a greater sense of purpose in your career goals and ambitions
Helps you manage stress by focusing on what’s important in life
Guides your decision-making with a sense of ethics, self-respect, and integrity
Informs a leadership style guided by treating others how you’d like to be treated
Motivates you to be resilient during moments of conflict or great challenges
Makes you feel more satisfied with the choices that are in alignment with your moral values
I challenge you to give yourself a moment to reflect on your personal values and what is most important to you, this will ensure you are on a trajectory for success heading into the year ahead.
Yours in health
Anna