Do you ever wonder why some days feel amazing while others feel not so great?
I was in a conversation recently and found myself asking this question to myself as the other person was speaking, and I had a bit of an ah-ha moment. While this is not rocket science and probably something someone out there has written or spoken about, it gave me a new perspective.
We discussed our core values. BTW, if you are unsure what yours are, I highly recommend taking the time to do the values exercise. You can find these assessments online, and I also have one in my opt-in freebie at jill quartz.com.
I got very clear on my values in the last couple of years and realized that they are essentially my guiding principles. They act as a GPS for me in all that I do.
Our values are important to us, and when we are not aligned with them, we feel unfulfilled and out of alignment with ourselves.
Consciously or subconsciously…
We consider our values when making decisions.
We consider our values when thinking about pursuing a career opportunity.
We consider our values when standing up for something we believe in.
But do we consider them when we plan our time? Think about this for a moment.
Returning to the conversation, I asked the person what their values were and how they showed up in their calendar each day.
When we are feeling unfulfilled or “meh,” as my kids would say, chances are that our values are not being considered when we plan our time.
Here’s an example of what I mean.
One of my core values is Personal fulfillment.
For me, this means that I am learning and growing and that the work I am doing stimulates me. If I take a snapshot of my week, I should see some time set up each day to do at least one thing that personally fulfills me. It might be learning something new or listening to a podcast while on the treadmill. In my calendar, these activities are scheduled; more importantly, I protect these time blocks. By planning for these activities daily, I know I am setting myself up for success in doing things that matter to me. It’s something that makes me feel happy at the end of each day and takes no more than 20 minutes, eliminating any excuse not to get it done. When we find space in our days for the things that fuel us and that we value, we feel good!
When I asked the person I was talking with to tell me how their values were incorporated into their calendar, there was a pause and a blank stare. Their values were nowhere to be found in their schedule, and as a result, they felt unfulfilled.
As I said, this is not rocket science, but I believe this can be very impactful if we take the time to notice.
Notice how we spend our time.
Notice the days when we are not feeling our best.
Notice the days when we feel energized.
It does not mean that this is the only contributor to how we feel overall, but it has undoubtedly had an impact on me.
Every week at the very top of my weekly planner, I write down my values. Throughout the week, I do a sanity check against them to make sure that they are being respected, which can usually be predetermined by my mood. And what I can tell you for sure is that on the days that I put my values first, I feel well. On days when I have felt not so great, my values were likely put on the back burner. Either I booked too many meetings, said yes when I should have said no, and probably brought work stuff into our family time because I did not have the time close off my day properly.
If you have not done a values assessment, do it! It’s so worth it!
I had not done this for 44 years, and it has been a massive eye-opener for me in the last couple of years. Not to say that I didn’t have values, I just hadn’t done an exercise like that and put them in front of my face.
I believe that our values genuinely are our guiding principles.
Once you have your values identified, do a sanity check to see how they align with how you spend your time and how you feel each day. I think you might learn something new like I did. We can achieve so much more personal fulfillment by putting simple systems in place
As always, I hope you found value in this post that can help you become the best version of yourself!
Please share this with someone you think can benefit from doing this exercise.
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