High Value or the Value Meal?

What Are your Core Values?

A stranger, walks into a bar and asks “what are your core values?” Besides the potential feeling of being judged and wondering if you were unknowingly doing anything that would provoke such a question, would you have a response?  I thought for sure I would, I mean we all know our core values right…but when really pressed for tangible answers I found myself stumbling.

Would you start by looking outside of yourself:  referencing whatever religion you follow, checking into your local laws, revisiting the constitution or maybe reaching out to your community for input?  Are certain values solid and concrete while others are more like ideals?  Are you wondering if it really matters, if it’s really worth it to get crystal clear with yourself on what your core values are? I would wager it does matter.

“A highly developed values system is like a compass. It serves as a guide to point you in the right direction when you are lost.”
― Idowu Koyenikan

Every time you’re in the act of making a choice you are consciously and unconsciously working from some sort of decisions system. Without defined core values, your decision will be based off your emotions (done in the limbic region of the brain), your previous choices (even if they weren’t the ones that best served you) and some ‘rational’ thought.  This may be why you’re still making choices that aren’t the best for you:

“Oh, look another job opening at that new company, I wonder if I should apply this time…well I didn’t apply to the last four job openings so why would I apply to this one?”

You’re opting for the comfortable choice:

“yup, you see I know what kind of suffering I’m experiencing at this job, this is comfortable suffering”

Once you’ve laid out your core values, (when I say laid out I mean written down…as if thinking about them would ever be all I ask of you) it will be vastly easier to make the decision that best serves you.  The “in the moment desires”, the fear of the unknown and the weight of previous decisions would then need to be examined against what you’re core values are which will hold more weight once clearly defined.