Identifying your values is the first step towards living joyfully.

Knowing and honoring your core values points you in the direction of fulfillment and authenticity.  

When people are in alignment with their values, they are more likely to feel calm, inspired, motivated, powerful, and loved, just to name a few. 

On the flip side, when a person ignores or denies their values, they often feel irritable, annoyed, stuck, unmotivated, and agitated.

Here are a few ways to uncover what's important to you...

• Highlight Reel: What’s important to you? What lights you up? When do you feel alive? Who are you when you are at your best? What was a proud moment in your life and what made it so important? Unearth values by digging around in the highlight reel of your life.

• Find a “Core Values” List:  Google one. Print it. Circle every word that resonates with you to start. You'll use this list again later to narrow it down to the ones that resonate most with you.

• Your Hero/Idol/Mentor: Think about someone you admire. What about them inspires so much admiration in you? What do you love about them? What importance do they hold in your life? Write down the values that come to mind. 

• Get Angry; Get Curious: We all get annoyed or mad, but have you ever stopped to investigate why your undies are in a bunch? Chances are, one of your values is being stepped on, squashed, ignored, or disrespected. Get curious the next time you feel PO’ed.

Take a week or two (or more!) to explore your values, then narrow your list down to 3-5 of the ones that resonate the most and feel most personally important. Don’t worry, these are not set in stone. You can switch out values as many times as you need to until you find what’s true for you.

When you discover, live by, and create opportunities for your personal values to exist on a regular basis, you will create space and opportunity for more joy to enter into your life.

What values do you want to live more into this year? Leave them in the comments below!

Sarah Walker is a goal coach specializing in guiding clients towards their joy, purpose, and worth. Sarah and her clients work together on accomplishing client’s goals, whether it’s a career change, a shift in a relationship, mindful parenting, or a slower pace in life. Besides coaching, Sarah loves spending time with her husband and their two daughters. They live in Minneapolis, Minnesota but escape the city as much as possible to be in nature or travel.