Creating a life, business and relationships that are extraordinary start from one place
Halftime
Have you ever woke up in the morning and wondered: What about my life is thriving and how do I achieve a life of meaning? Recovering from an accident that should have taken my life gave me a lot of time to reflect on this very question.
Simon Sinek’s TED talk on the Golden Circle. made a huge impact on me. It was clear that I couldn’t find personal why, and the meaning of life, unless I understood how I was wired!
This is a long journey and I needed help to get to the summit. The head coach at the Halftime Institute walked me through what would become a life defining process. I could not have found a better partner! He started with a question I couldn’t answer:
“How did God wire you and what did He wire you for?” – Jeff Spadafora, Certified Halftime Coach
Intentionally developing your core values is the key!
In Becoming a Professional Life Coach: Lessons from the Institute of Life Coach Training the authors, Patrick Williams & Diane S. Menendez, discuss why working with values is so critical
- The power of values.
- The deepest, most powerful, and most centering force for an individual, business, or society is its values.
- When we coach at the level of values, outer circumstances can change 10 times faster and have much more sustained impact than if we merely try to change things on the surface.
- Values reflect the highest thoughts.
- An individual’s personal values are a reflection of the highest principles of mind and thought, and may even be part of the spiritual domain.
- Values release tremendous potential for success, accomplishment, and happiness.
- A values-based life is a fulfilled life.
- When clients live their life in line with their values, it engenders a sense of well-being, self-respect, and self esteem.
- When they live a life that violates their values, it can lead to confusion, frustration, and depression.
- Conscious work on values is critical.
- Unless or until clients consciously explore, distinguish, and clearly delineate their personal values or beliefs, it ’s impossible to orient and create a personal or professional life around them.
- Needs come first.
- Clients can’t live their values when they are driven by insufficiently satisfied needs.
- Addressing these needs takes precedence and eventually clears the path for clients to focus on and align with their values.
Why is this essential for each of us:
- Our core vales are like a working compass. With one you won’t get lost.
- Knowing your core values let’s you determine your WHY.
- You will become an authentic leader when your values are aligned with your actions
- Alignment puts us in a powerful position of always knowing what to do; even if the choice is difficult
- You will be swayed by the values of others if you don’t live yours daily.
Your core values are the heart of who you are. Knowing them and working intentionally in them will super charge your path to success.
Do you you want every decision to be true to who you are?
Do you have a system on how to say yes and no?
Are your personal values in alignment with your company’s culture?
Next week I will discuss exactly how to determine your core values.
To discuss these questions please contact me.
John… truer words were never typed. If you not guided by core values, God only knows where you will end up. It is easy to detect a fraud who is not operating from a strong set of guiding values… they are all over the place. To me, integrity is key. Integrity is all about aligning your actions with your values. Thanks for the great article brother!
I couldn’t agree with this more. As someone who has worked for a company that did NOT have strong core values at the center of everything it did, I know how important values are to a successful business!
John, I got to see Simon Sinek and his talk on “your why” and it was so empowering. I think keeping your values in front of you, at all times can really help you attract the right clients for you to work with in your business. Thank you for the reminder.
John, I believe that way too many companies fail because their leader did not HAVE/follow a core set of corporate values. Moreoever, they need to be impressed and practiced by every staff member.
Powerful John. Really enjoyed reading your personal story (inspiring)! Understanding the why “why” is my favorite part, thanks for your wisdom.
Thanks Dean for helping me focus my why into action!
Powerful message, got to listen to Simon speak at Inbound conference and he is such a powerful speaker on this topic. He did not touch on Golden Circle but a ton on values. Looking forward to next week!
Wade, Simon is fantastic and we are working to get in touch with him. Have you read ‘The Hands-Off Manager’ by Steve Chandler? I just heard him speak and read the book. I am recommending it to all of my leadership coaching clients. I can get you in touch if you would like.
John, thank you for the recommendation! I will check it out right now.
This concept of core values, being aligned with them in ALL aspects of your life, and being really grounded in them is so important. Thank you for writing such an important blog post!
Thank you Karen. Alignment for me was the key that has created velocity in my life!
Values and a person’s “why” comes up quite a bit when I’m working with my clients. If we can get the the heart of those things all decisions and actions become obvious and releases a lot of tension and stress.
I like this. I haven’t really thought about my values, but I know my why. I don’t know if they are in line with each other and I’m going to spend a bit of time figuring that out! Thanks for the insight1
Hello Jaime, I have an exercise I created for my clients on how to find and intentionally work in their core values. If you would like me to send that to please let me know.