How to use your values to improve your life

​You wake up with the best of intentions, and then life happens:
 

• Your kids need you to come to their sporting event;
• Your boss needs you to cover him while he does goodness-knows-what;
• Your partner needs you to pick up a whatever-the-kids-will-eat on your way home;
• And the car won’t start.

 
You start the day with an open heart and a willing head, and yet you still end up feeling like a scrunched up ball of paper.  There are so many demands on your time that it seems inevitable that you will fail. 
 
But it doesn’t have to be this way.  Life can still pull you in different directions and leave you feeling like a success.  And the answer is by looking at your values.  Your values are helpful markings on the roadmap of your life, guiding you at every turn. 
 
When you next feel torn in several different directions, take a step back and assess what is most important to you.  Identify your values for each area of your life.  This might vary a little according to the context, but it shouldn’t vary dramatically.  We all have a rough idea about how we want each part of our lives to look like. 
 
I have set out below a grid for you to use to help identify your values.  For each area of your life (home life, wider family, friends, working life, etc) identify the following three things -
 
The vision - This is a generic statement about how you would like each area of our life to look like.  For example, you know that you want to be the type of parent who spends at least some time with your kids.  You want to be present in their lives, and you want them to know you are there if they really need you.  That is the vision. 
 
A vision realised – Then for each vision, identify tangible examples of how that vision might be realised.  This is the maximum that you need to do to really reflect this vision.  For example, being present in your daughter’s life might mean, at a maximum, checking in with her once a day, or watching 80% of her sporting events.  It is important to be clear on when this vision would be realised, because we can sometimes overdo things.  For example, we probably don’t need to be at every single one of her sporting events, or we don’t need to check in with her five times a day!  Having the comfort that we have done enough frees us up for other parts of our life, without the guilt.
 
The boundaries – Finally, for each vision, identify tangible examples of how that vision might be breached.  For example, if we attend less than one sporting event a month, this might mean we need to focus more time and energy on this vision.

​I hope you find this useful. If you do fill this out, and you realise there need to be changes in your life, you might need help working out how to achieve those changes. Get in contact today to find out how a therapist might help you with this.
 
Chris Warren-Dickins LLB MA LPC
Psychotherapist
www.exploretransform.com
 

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