The First Step To Self-Improvement Is Identifying Your Core Values - Here's Where To Start

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As weeks have turned into months in our new normal, each of us has faced important short- and long-term decisions during this crisis. As we make crucial choices in our personal and professional lives, lockdowns have also given us time to reflect on what’s most important to us.

This pandemic will pass eventually, and many of us will be given opportunities to reset or relaunch our lives and careers. Perhaps you will want to look for a new job, change industries, or even take the entrepreneurial leap and start a business. Maybe you’ll want to transform your physical health, expand your professional skills or reevaluate your personal and professional relationships.

All of us are capable of making lasting changes in our lives and careers. But first, we have to gain clarity on our personal core values.

Core values are the non-negotiable principles that consciously or unconsciously guide your more important decisions. No matter what area of your life you’d like to make a change, you have to start by gaining a deeper understanding of what’s most important to you.

Achievement is highly subjective. When you’re looking to set personal and professional goals, you can’t just copy other people. If you spend time pursuing goals without first aligning them to your core values, you run the risk of wasting a lot of time and energy running in the wrong direction.

This is why in my last book, Elevate, the very first step I discuss in the capacity building framework is discovering core values. Since publishing Elevate last year, I’ve been asked by many readers how to begin this self-reflective work. Here are some great resources.

• Helpful Content: Friday Forward – Spiritual Capacity Stories
• Books: Discover Your True North by Bill George, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
• Assessments: DiSC Personality Assessment, Clifton Strengths Assessment, Total Leadership Assessment
• Understanding Your Why: Start with Why, WHY Institute
• Core Values Exercises/Keywords: The Whole Life Dashboard

Discovering Your Core Values Course

At Acceleration Partners, we’ve developed a very successful curriculum over several years as part of our leadership training focused on authentic leadership. I am now making this content available for the first time to others.

I recently shared an introduction to this content on LinkedIn and am putting the finishing touches on a long-form course on how to discover, develop and apply core values in your personal and professional life. That’s coming in a few weeks and you can sign up via this form to be notified when it’s available—and to receive a special offer. It's also a great exercise for a team to do together.

We’re all going to be looking to restart some aspect of our lives when this passes—taking the time to discover your values will ensure that you’ll be on the path toward a life that fulfills you, and will help you build the capacity you’ll need to reach that destination.

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Robert Glazer is the founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners, an award-winning partner marketing agency ranked #4 on Glassdoor’s best places to work.