Everyday Values

 Summary:  Take the time to write down your values. It affects all you do. Make them conscious and live them everyday.

Have you ever taken the time to write down your values? If you own a company, have you written the companies values? Have you noticed this is not a simple as it sounds.

Why is that?

For starters we have a tendency to work in automatic mode – we know what needs to get done and we do it. We rarely step back and take a look at the why. So why start with values? This is the foundation of what we do, where are automatic mode comes from. By writing down our values we consciously bring them forward.

By bringing them forward our values to our conscious, we can easily ensure we demonstrate them on a daily basis. Living and demonstrating our values on a daily basis will cause others to do the same. Those who align with our values will become empowered. Those who don’t will usually fall away.

When discussing with people their leadership, organizational culture and recruiting needs – this is where I start. I may not always call it values – it is what is important to you and the qualities you want to find in others.

Write down your values, live them every day and watch what happens.

Does this sound too touchy-feely?

I understand it may feel that way – your values are concrete and make you who you are. For example, one of my values is “curiosity” some make prefer to call it “continual education” or “keeping up with the industry” or “world views”. I prefer curiosity as it encompasses all of it and more. How does this affect the way I work with others or my business? I find that when working with people who aren’t a little curious or interested in always learning more that it is more difficult for me and will actually be physically exhausting.

Do certain people make you exhausted? Not sharing the same values could be why.

What are your values? How do you express them each day?