WEEKLY COACHING TIP #187                                                                                             

VALUING YOURSELF

Well I’m back from my sojourn in France and raring to go, for those of you living in Europe I hope you are enjoying this Indian summer we seem to be having.

Following on from the last WCT TOP 10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR BELIEFS, I have attached the form for you to look at your values a little closer. It might be a good idea if you print out the last WCT to go with this form.

Basically our beliefs are what drive our behaviour and most of these come from our core values.  So for instance, if someone really values honesty and they happen to be working in an environment which is fundamentally dishonest, they would most likely be unhappy and have a very hard time working there and finally would have to leave.  Now that’s a very obvious scenario, however sometimes there are the less obvious ones.  For instance, values that we didn’t even know we had. Something major happens is our lives or we actually sit down with a coach and we realise what it is we truly value, we understand what makes us tick.  Otherwise we will never know why we do certain things and not others.  In order to feel fulfilled most of our values need to be met everyday!

With the attached form Value Elicitation you get a chance to explore this a little deeper.

Here is a couple of sections with some guidance.

SECTION A - WHAT’S IMPORTANT?

1. What’s important to you?
2. Why it’s important to you? 
3. What values are you honouring?

This is really about the feeling that you are after ultimately, be if security, love, trust, personal growth, recognition, enlightenment, whatever.  We do things to satisfy some emotion or some need we may have. 

So bear that in mind as you complete the form.

You may find also, as you do this, a lot of values you have just ‘inherited’ from your family, i.e. you must work hard to achieve anything; putting another before oneself is important.   When you look at your values in the cold light of day, you may be surprised to find that it’s not even a value, you value!  You just had it thrust upon you and never stopped to question because you were too young or it’s always been there.  That’s when you can begin to change your beliefs around certain things if necessary.

SECTION C - PEAK EXPERIENCES

1. What are some of your peak experiences? 

This means absolutely the best moments you can remember, it may be your wedding day, a first born, or a great moment on holiday.  Ultimately what you are looking for in this exercise is to see the values coming up time and time again.  Then you have a choice if you still want that value or not.  From there you can modify your beliefs also.  Remember we always make decisions based on our values and beliefs (as well as our identity) so it’s best that you know what they really are.  This exercise is a lot more in depth than this and it’s best done 1-1, so if you would like any help on being coached in this area so you can choose more empowering beliefs, contact me for a coaching session by telephone or face to face.

2. What was important about that experience?   
3. What values were you honouring?

Have fun, remember you get to choose your values and this influences the kinds of decisions you make, therefore the kind of life you create, so begin.

Onwards and upwards and Value Yourself.