What are your values?🤔
It’s not always the sexiest question or topic…
But the truth is, values matter.🤷♂️
Most people don’t really spend a ton of time thinking about them though…
And I think that’s a mistake…❌
Because understanding your values can help you to make confident decisions, impact your happiness, and ultimately serve as a roadmap with which you navigate through life.
So for example…
My #1 Value is Impact
I live this value by working on projects and investing in companies that help others to achieve those ends. It serves as a filter for new projects because if it’s going to make a lot of money but not have a lot of impact, I’m less likely to do it.
This value influences my relationship with money too – because money is a means that allows me to achieve greater impact as my ends. Knowing that helps me to have less hang-ups on money, because I know I’m pursuing it for the right reasons, and I think of money as a positive tool vs. something bad that I should shy away from.
It also governs the way I relate to my family. I want to help support my wife and daughter so that they can achieve freedom, happiness, and fulfillment too. When I’m not having an impact in their lives, I personally don’t feel fully happy or fulfilled.
And finally, impact is why I can get frustrated if a business I have isn’t growing or plateauing because that lack of growth is limiting the potential scale of my impact.
Now what’s interesting is understanding that some of the other things I “value” really fall underneath the filter of impact, too.
Take “Freedom” for example.
I do indeed value the freedom to make my own decisions, pursue the projects that I’m passionate about, be creative, be myself, and so much more…🤩
But I think one of the big reasons I value those freedoms so much is because, like money, they are the means which will allow me to have the greatest impact.👌
And then another value I have is Empowering Relationships.
I didn’t used to think of myself as a “relationship person”, but that’s changed. I really value my network and the people who have come into my life. I look for relationships where I am empowering and impact others, and where they are empowering and impacting me.
So this is now a filter through which I decide if I want to invest in a new relationship, and also if I want to continue maintaining an existing relationship. If we aren’t empowering each other, there’s a lack of impact, and I’m unfulfilled.
Anyways, these are my values…
But what are yours?
For example, a value you had in your 20s may not be important in your 30s or 40s.
When I was a younger man, comfort was a big and important value for me.
Today, I still like being comfortable…
But I also like trying to push myself to grow through being uncomfortable…
And regardless, the values of comfort/discomfort are significantly lower on my list of priorities compared to impact.
Make sense?
So even if you do “know your values”…
You may find it helpful to take a few minutes to “update your inventory”…
And see if there’s anything you want to add, subtract, or rearrange.
– SPG
P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link