Your values are powerful motivators,
do you know what they are?

Our values (and BELIEFS) are now known to be key in determining our success or failure.

And yet most of us are unaware consciously of them, let alone positively using them for self motivation, to boost our self esteem and to achieve the best returns on our self improvement investments.

This ignorance is costing us dear.

Firstly, let's define what "values" are:

* a person's principles or standards of behaviour

* one's judgement of what is important in life

* the worth, desirability or utility of something.

Given these definitions, are you consciously aware of them and how they drive your behaviour?

Try this exercise now, if you wish:

turn the definitions above into questions and
write down your answers:

* what has high worth or desirability for you?

* how would you describe your principles or standards of behaviour?

* what is important in life for you?

Why bother?

Because, although this is not an easy exercise, having greater self awareness will enable you to be more in control, more consistent and more successful in your self improvement.

For example:

* values are emotional states that we believe are most important in terms of wants (moving towards) or avoids (moving away from)

This is about motivation and knowing what has worth and is important to you will help you with your self motivation (e.g. in using the 5 WHYs to explore your enthusiasm or procrastination)

* they determine our direction

This will relate importantly to creating your future and in setting your goals

* they are belief systems that have global effects

Be aware then that they will impact on all that you choose to do and not do.

In practice, this may mean that when you want to change a habit, as part of your self improvement, it may help to explore what values are underlying your existing habit and what changes, if any, are needed there.

It may be very helpful to use self hypnosis to change your values and habits.

* they form from reward-punish conditioning

Were you born with a value system?

Who knows?

But you do know that you have developed one as you matured through your life and built up experiences, expectations and models of success and failure.

Being self aware, and being able to reflect on the reward or punish conditioning that created them, gives you massive power in choosing your behaviour for your future based on learning from your past.

* We have a hierarchy of them – they are not all equally important

This is very useful to understand when you encounter inconsistencies or paradoxes in behaviour (which may be described as "hypocritical" by others).

Again, this knowledge will enable you to explore options and make choices.

That is, it will empower you.

* they are powerful motivators – we need to know our own and others’

People's behaviour makes "sense" to them at the time they did whatever they did (even though it may not make sense to them later, on reflection).

Making "sense" in this sense does not always mean rational sense, it may mean emotional or spiritual sense.

However, somewhere underlying the behaviour is the engine driving it - motivation - based on what is important in life to the person (and their beliefs).

* they can conflict

Just as they are not all equal (see above), they can conflict and when they do, we will usually respond to the one that is more important to us in the situation.

Your values should not be underestimated in the power they exert on your motivation, behaviour and self esteem. Become self aware and know your values and why you hold them. Use them to facilitate change.
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