Clarifying Purpose through Core Values By Cecilia B. Loving*
If we do not have clarity of values, if we don’t have anywhere else to look or focus, if we don’t have that light up above to remind you why we’re there, the cynics and the critics can bring us to our knees. More often than not, our values are what lead us to the arena door—we’re willing to do something uncomfortable and daring because of our beliefs. And when we get in there and stumble or fall, we need our values to remind us why we went in, especially when we are facedown, covered in dust and sweat and blood. The first step of living into our values is divining what’s most important to us. What is our North Star? What values do we hold most sacred? We can’t work to stay aligned with values when we haven’t spent any time getting curious about, or naming, what we care about most. Our values should be so crystallized in our minds, so infallible, so precise and clear and unassailable, that they don’t feel like a choice—they are simply a definition of who we are in our lives. In those hard moments, we know that we are going to pick what’s right, right now, over what is easy. Because that is integrity—choosing courage over comfort; it’s choosing what’s right over what’s fun, fast, or easy; and it’s practicing your values, not just professing them.
WHAT ARE YOUR CORE VALUES?
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