The Importance Of Core Values In Life – Navigating Happiness

The Importance Of Core Values in Life – Navigating Happiness

Welcome back, my friends 🖤. This week, we’re diving into the importance of core values in life and how embracing your authenticity can help you unlock greater happiness and a deeper sense of purpose.

Buckle up as we uncover the secrets to living a more meaningful and fulfilling life through the lens of your personal core values.

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At the heart of every decision and every action we take lies something deeper – our core values.

Core values pretty much act as an internal compass, guiding our daily actions and influencing how we show up and interact with the world around us.

Knowing your core values can bring a lot of clarity to your life, making daily choices and decision-making much easier and more aligned with who you are at the essence of your being.

Whether this is choosing the right career, building meaningful relationships, or simply navigating everyday challenges, your core values help you stay true to yourself.

On the other hand, if you are unsure about your core values, life can feel a bit unanchored. You might find yourself being pulled in different directions, dissatisfied with your personal choices and decisions. Over time you might even feel trapped and uninspired by your reality.

So yes, these core values are super powerful and certainly worth looking at.

Today, we will explore the importance of core values in detail and unveil how embracing your core values will empower you to live a life that feels fulfilling, balanced, and authentic to you.

Knowing your core values will support your personal growth and development journey, helping you build a life rich in meaning and purpose.

What are core values?

Core values or personal core values are unique and are different for everyone.

They highlight what we stand for, shape our beliefs and principles and reflect what matters most to us.

Core values are a bit like DNA. They are our essence (our truth) and define who we are as a person.

Examples of core values

To get a better idea of the importance of values and what core values are, let’s take a look at a few examples.

Core values cover a wide range of qualities, such as for example:

• honesty
• compassion
• integrity
• courage
• success
• loyalty
• respect
• growth
• family
• health
• beauty
• freedom
• communication
• friendship
• money
• achievement
• independence
• …

Reading tip: The list of core values continues and you can find more examples of core values here.

Why core values are important

We have already scratched the surface of this point, but let’s take a closer look at the importance of core values and how they shape and influence our lives on different levels.

The importance of core values:

• Guidance for decision-making – core values serve as a moral compass, helping you make consistent decisions in daily life
• Sense of purpose – living in alignment with your core values gives you a clear sense of purpose and direction, making life more meaningful
• Building trust and relationships – when you live by your values, you attract like-minded people, fostering stronger, more authentic relationships built on mutual respect and trust
• Personal growth – core values push you to grow and improve, as they often reflect your highest ideals and aspirations
• Inner peace – aligning your actions with your core values reduces inner conflict and stress, leading to greater peace of mind
• Resilience – your core values act as an anchor, helping you stay grounded as you go through life
• Consistency and integrity -living by your core values ensures that your actions align with your beliefs, building a life of integrity and consistency
• Clarifies priorities – core values help you prioritize what’s truly important, ensuring you invest your time and energy in what matters most

The importance of core values in short: Living by your core values leads to a deeper sense of satisfaction and long-term fulfilment, as your life reflects your true self.

How to define your core values in 4 simple steps

Now that we understand the importance of core values in detail, let’s get to work and let me help you define your core values.

What do you need? Not much, a few sheets of paper or your journal and some time for self-reflection 🖤.

Step 1: Define your core values journal exercise

Journaling is a great way to self-reflect, get to the bottom of things, gain a different perspective on situations/relationships, etc.

The journal prompts below are designed to help guide you towards your core values.

Get your journal or a few sheets of paper and go through the journal questions below one by one.

Allow yourself enough time for this journal exercise, and switch off your phone to avoid distractions. Most importantly, allow yourself to be honest with yourself. Honesty is the best catalyst for transformation.

Journal prompts:

• Look back at your life and write down the moments when you were most happy in your life. Describe these moments in detail and pay attention to why you were happy.
• Look back at your life and write down the moments when you were most sad in your life. Describe these moments in detail and pay attention to why you were sad.
• Think about people you admire or look up to. What qualities or values do they possess that you find inspiring?
• List all the principles you believe should guide how people treat each other and the world around them.
• If you could only choose three words to describe yourself, what would they be, and why?
• What characteristics within yourself are you most proud of and why?
• Reflect on a time when you made a difficult decision. What values influenced your choice?
• What issues or causes in the world do you feel passionate about and want to contribute to?
• Think about your favourite books, movies, songs, etc. Are there any recurring themes or messages that resonate with you? What values do they reflect?
• Describe a situation where you felt inauthentic/completely out of place. What values were being compromised, and why did it feel that way?
• What are your non-negotiables in your relationships with others e.g., trust, honesty, respect, etc.?
• What values should be at the core of your work and career choices?
• If money did not matter, what would you do?
• How do you deal with challenges?
• What makes you angry and why does it make you angry?
• What qualities do you look for in a partner/friend/job? Why do these qualities matter to you?
• Who are the friends you like spending time with? Who are the friends you don’t like spending time with? Why?

Step 2: Connect the dots

All right my friends, in the next step, let’s connect the dots.

Below are a couple of examples to help you get started with this step.

Example 1: If you don’t like spending time with this particular friend because he/she is flaky and keeps cancelling at the last minute, maybe one of your core values is ‘commitment’. Or if this friend always turns up 15 minutes late, maybe one of your values is ‘respect’.

Example 2: If the person who inspires you most is living his/her dream, one of your core values could be ‘integrity’. Or if the person who inspires you most is e.g. career-oriented, one of your core values could be ‘wealth’ or ‘success’.

As you reflect on your notes, look for patterns, recurring themes, or any common values that emerge.

Write down the core values that you have identified as important to you and create a long list of core values.

Step 3: Define your core values

From that long list of values, we will now define your top 3 – 4 core values.

To help you define your core values, consider the below:

• Identify core themes – group similar values together to identify overarching themes or categories
• Prioritize the importance of core values – reflect on which values are most central to your identity and decision-making; consider which values you are willing to stand up for and which ones resonate deeply with you
• Consider impact – evaluate how each value influences your actions and relationships; focus on values that have the most significant impact on your behaviour and life choices
• Alignment test – check if your refined list aligns and supports your overall life goals; ensure that the core values you choose reflect your true self

Congratulations on defining your core values!

Tip: Core values might change and evolve over time. Revisit and adjust your core values as needed.

Step 4: Reality check

You defined your core values, now let’s take them into action and do a reality check to see how your core values relate to your current life.

Yes, my friends, the moment of truth 🖤.

Ask yourself:

• Considering your core values, how well does your current life align with your core values?
• What are the areas in your life that align with your core values?
• What are the areas in your life that don’t align with your core values?
• How do your core values show in your current life and relationships?
• What changes do you have to make in your day-to-day life to live in alignment with your core values?

Knowing and understanding the importance of values in general and being aware of your actual core values already helps and you will notice yourself making better choices and decisions for yourself in your everyday life.

Keep in mind that you are the creator of your life. If you want change, it is down to you to make it happen.

The importance of core values in our personal lives

There are three areas I feel it is worth diving a bit deeper into when it comes to the importance of core values in our personal lives: relationships, career and purpose.

The importance of core values in relationships

Core values are at the heart of any relationship (family, friends, lovers, work, etc.) as they shape the dynamics of personal interactions.

When people share the same core values e.g. ‘loyalty’, ‘honesty’, ‘respect’, ‘communication’, etc., it creates an environment for mutual understanding and trust.

It also creates a sense of emotional safety and compatibility, reducing the likelihood of major conflicts arising from fundamental differences.

So yes, when looking at the importance of core values in life and relationships, one can say that common core values form a healthy basis for relationships to grow and flourish.

Recognizing, respecting, and nurturing the core values of both individuals in a relationship is important for establishing and sustaining a fulfilling and enduring connection built on trust, shared goals, and mutual respect.

The importance of core values in your career

This is when I have to ask you the magic question: do you love your job?

I get it, reality can be a bitch and bills need to be paid, but when we talk about the importance of core values in life and more specifically in your career, know that core values influence job satisfaction, professional growth as well as success in your career.

In other words, if your core values align with the company values and your career choice, you are in pole position as this will help to create a sense of purpose and fulfilment.

On a personal level, this will contribute to your inner happiness and on a professional level this will motivate you to thrive higher and support you in building a strong and long-lasting career.

The importance of core values in life when it comes to your career is a key factor for your professional success and most importantly living a healthy work-life balance allowing you to live a healthy lifestyle and create healthy lifestyle habits.

On the other hand, a misalignment between personal values and the values of a job or company can lead to dissatisfaction, stagnation in your professional development, frustration, up until burnout, etc.

The importance of core values and finding purpose

Having a purpose means having a sense of direction and meaning in life.

Sometimes this can be challenging, but knowing your core values is a great starting point on your quest for purpose.

By aligning your actions, choices, and goals with your core values, you embrace authenticity and allow yourself to be, ultimately spending more time doing the things that matter to you most in life, supporting you step-by-step along your journey to finding purpose.

Below are three tips that can help you find your purpose:

• Define your core values – understand what principles and values guide your life. Understanding your core values can help you find a purpose that aligns with what you believe is important and meaningful
• Identify your strengths and talents – think about what you are naturally good at. Often, our purpose is connected to using our unique talents to contribute to the world in a meaningful way
• Define your passions and interests – what makes you feel alive? What can you talk about for hours? Often passions are closely linked to our purpose

Finding your purpose can be a deeply personal and transformative journey. And the more you live life in alignment with your essence the more authentic and rewarding life will feel.

How knowing my core values has changed the way I live my life

As a Senior Marketing professional, I am well aware of the importance of core values and have defined core values for brands daily.

However, I have never really defined my personal core values until I started working with a life coach.

And I have to be honest with you, I LOVED the process of defining my core values.

Why? Because my life, me as a person, my behaviours, my relationships, etc. suddenly made so much more sense to me.

Defining my core values gave me a lot of clarity about relationship dynamics in certain friendships and over time, I did let go of certain friendships and people in my life.

This is of course not always easy but at the same time it allows you to focus more on the relationships that support you, enrich your life and contribute to your overall life balance and happiness.

Another area that was impacted was my corporate career. Throughout my corporate life, I worked for many different companies, and some of them I joined and left pretty quickly. Today I can look back and say that our core values simply did not align and because of this misalignment, I always ended up unhappy and dissatisfied with my choice. When I now look for a job, I know exactly the pinpoints I need to look out for and I don’t shy away to ask the right questions right from the start. Knowing your core values certainly is a confidence boost too.

In addition, defining my core values has also given me more clarity about my overall life goals and what is worth spending more time on.

I would say that the importance of core values made even more sense after defining my core values.

And yes, as you are evolving along your personal growth journey, your core values might change as well. I would highly recommend checking in with your core values once a year to see what still feels in alignment and what does not.

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And now, over to you my friends 🖤. I would love to hear your thoughts about core values and how defining your core values has changed your life moving forward. Feel free to leave me a comment below, it is always great to hear from you guys.

If you enjoyed this blog post, make sure to sign up for my newsletter to get the latest blog posts, personal growth strategies and well-being tips directly to your inbox. I can’t wait to connect with you!

Stay wild,

Nicolle

Featured image: Photo by Oliver Pacas on Unsplash