Your Core Values and what is important to You?

Living the dream :)

 Tropical Beach? Check

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What does your ideal life look like? What are you doing? Who are you with? Where are you? How are you feeling?

A short time ago I was my own worst boss.

You know the one who is constantly on your back, 24/7 watching you, criticizing you and measuring you. The type of boss that nothing is ever good enough for and when it is; well that's to be expected. Now get back to work!

I was once told to achieve and move forward “the pain of moving forward must be less than the pain of standing still”.

The message I heard was “always be in pain”. I talked this way to myself for over a decade.

Regularly I would wake at 2 am in a cold sweat, fearing about business, my clients, bills, staff, expetations, procedures and more. I worried a lot and all the time. I put on weight, I lost weight, lost interest in everything and became excruciatingly cynical.

Then I chose stand up to myself and my inner bully boss saying "No more! This is hurting me not helping me".

Life is more than money. Money is important but only to the extent that it allows us to enjoy what is important to us.

Where had it all gotten so wrong?

Looking back I remember embracing financial planning (seventeen years ago) because I got to learn about money, help others achieve what’s important to them, and doing so, I could also achieve what was important to me.

Today the same passion to learn, help and live an ideal life still burns within in me; however for a long time I was immensely unhappy because I had bought into the belief (promoted by the industry and media) that my only value was to make clients money and that this was more important than helping them achieve their goals and the things more important to them in life than money. i.e. living an ideal life without financial concern.

To move forward I had to revisit, reassess and document my own values. I had to reconsider my goals and personal milestones and benchmark once more where I was in relation to where I wanted to be. Just like I facilitate with my clients today.

The result? Happiness. Confidence. Peace. Certainty. Empowerment. Inspiration and Clarity.

It’s important to note that these results didn’t just happen simply because I had documented my values, goals and benchmarked them.

Achieving these results required my total commitment to a plan of action, accountability, implementation and activities across all areas of my life, including my relationships, health, spirit, career, finances and new experiences.

Surprising, even to me, when re-aligning my choices to my core values, long standing milestones quickly came within reach and others that I thought were important became less so.

Making choices aligned to my values has enabled me to make better decisions, in less time and with greater confidence. This has also lead me onto experiencing greater peace, enriched experiences, deeper relationships and much more.

Aligning choices to our values is simple but not easy.

Choosing to do so requires 100% commitment, honest conversations with ourselves and those important to us, turning off from low value distractions and patience, however when we begin and are on the path of mastery, the ultimate reward is not a gold medal but the path itself.

Here are some tips I apply to my own life:

1. Consistency beats perfection.

2. Enjoy what you do.

3. It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with it.

4. Know where you’re going and why it’s important to you.

5. Trust is a combination of both character and competence.

6. Investing in oneself is the best investment one can ever make.

7. Life is not a dress rehearsal.

8. When your values are clear your decisions are easy!

This post was written by Me, as such they are my personal views and not financial or general advice.

You should always seek independent financial advice when it comes to choices about your personal finances. This is one area of your life where it’s worth paying for it to be done right.