KnowYourself/Samples

This section is designed to help you uncover your beliefs, clarify your values, and focus your action. As a whole, the section will take several days to complete; but it has been divided into short, sequenced activities to help you achieve results.

To truly be effective and to begin living the life of your dreams, your actions must reflect your values! Yet for too many of us, they do not. We may feel obligated or required to spend time on things we do not value. Or worse still, we may assume that our actions are consistent with our values when in actuality they reflect an unexamined (and unhealthy) belief.

For example, many of us don't take action on our dreams because we are afraid we will fail. However, very few of us would say we value the security of never trying: very few of us would say that we would rather be miserable than risk change. In fact, most of us might value just the opposite: things like courage, adventure, and new experiences. Why, then, don't we live like it? Because we don't realize we are afraid, and we don't acknowledge the fact that we expect to fail. In short, we live out an unexamined and unhealthy belief. This section is designed to change that.

Reflection Prompt: List 10 things you value in life and attach a brief description of each (e.g. adventure: I value trying new things and stretching what I believe is possible). Next, choose three values to focus on (try the ones that most excite you today). Take a moment and reflect on what each of these values would look like in your daily work.

Action Card: On today's action card, write down one thing you can do at work that is in line with your values. Take your card with you to work, and do not leave until you have done that one thing!

Example:

Value - Innovation: I value looking at things in a new way and implementing* new ideas.
              *Try to ensure that each value has an action component. Remember, the goal is to
               change our lives for the better. For that we need to apply our values: we need to act.

Apply the Value to work - If I truly lived out this value in my work, I would spend 30 minutes
                                        each day improving my process/product, and I would implement
                                        one new idea each week.

Action Card - Spend 30 minutes of today's work day on innovation: 15 minutes brainstorming
                      and 15 minutes applying the results!
                         *Remember to take Action! If you just brainstorm, nothing will happen. For
                          example, if you are a teacher and you want to innovate new ways of delivering
                          your math lesson, then you might brainstorm a game to help students practice
                          equations. But to be true to your values, you must TRY the game with your
                          students. Find out if it works, ask for feedback, and then TRY again. Action is
                          what changes our lives.