Defining Your Values | For Life & Business

​Many people think of values as guidelines for living life or conducting business. Your values are what you believe are important in life. They serve as a filter for the decisions you make and the things you do. You can use values to set goals, make decisions, and live a more fulfilling life. When it comes to business, your values can guide you in choosing the right clients, suppliers, and partners. They can also help you build a positive company culture. Let’s take a closer look at why values are so important. 

Why Values Are Important
Your values are important because they are a part of who you are. They shape your thoughts, emotions, and actions. You use them to make decisions about what is right and wrong, what is acceptable and unacceptable. When you live according to your values, you feel good about yourself and the things you do. You have a sense of purpose and direction. Values can also give you a sense of belonging and community. When you share your values with others, you develop relationships with like-minded people. 

In business, your values can guide you in making decisions about the products or services you offer, the pricing of your products or services, how you treat your employees and customers, and other aspects of running a business. When you live by your values in business, you attract clients who share your values. This creates loyalty and repeat business. Your values also help you build lasting relationships with suppliers, vendors, and other partners. 

How to Develop Your Values 
If you’re not sure what your personal or professional values are, there are a few exercises you can do to develop them. 

One exercise is to think about times when you’ve felt really good about yourself or what you’ve done. What were the circumstances? What did you do or say? What did others do or say? This will give you some clues about what might be important to you. 

Another exercise is to imagine yourself 10 years from now looking back on your life or career. What would make you proud? What would make you happy? This will help you identify the areas of your life that are most important to you. 
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You can also take an inventory of the people who are important to you—family members, friends, co-workers—and think about the qualities they have that make them valuable to you. Do they have similar qualities? This can give you some insight into what qualities might be important to you as well.

List of Values
If you're still stuck, choose 10 words that resonate with you from the list below, then cut it down to 5, then cut it down to 3.  This might be difficult - but go with your gut!

• Authenticity
• Achievement
• Abundance
• Adventure
• Authority
• Autonomy
• Balance
• Beauty
• Boldness
• Caring
• Career
• Compassion
• Challenge
• Change
• Citizenship
• Community
• Communication
• Competency
• Contribution
• Connection
• Creativity
• Curiosity
• Determination
• Diversity
• Encouragement
• Excitement
• Excellence
• Fairness
• Faith
• Fame

• Family
• Fitness
• Forgivness
• Freedom
• Friendships
• Fun
• Generosity
• Grace
• Gratitude
• Growth
• Happiness
• Harmony
• Health
• Honesty
• Humanity
• Humility
• Humor
• Influence
• Inner Harmony
• Innovation
• Intelligence
• Integrity
• Justice
• Kindness
• Knowledge
• Leadership
• Learning
• Love
• Loyalty
• Meaningful Work

• Openness
• Optimism
• Order
• Peace
• Personal Development
• Play
• Pleasure
• Poise
• Popularity
• Professionalism
• Prosperity
• Recognition
• Religion
• Reputation
• Respect
• Relationships
• Responsibility
• Security
• Self-Respect
• Service
• Spirituality
• Stability
• Strength
• Success
• Sustainability
• Status
• Tolerance
• Trustworthiness
• Wealth
• Wisdom

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