Lacking Discipline? Get Values Cheerleaders
I’ve been flying for over 50 years. How a plane defies gravity with its own massive weight along with the weight of passengers, baggage and freight is, for me, always mind-boggling. Every time I fly.
Core values of flight
An airplane is designed and constructed by teams of thousands of individuals meticulously following an explicitly detailed master plan. Each step enables it to ascend and land as safely as possible with the least amount of waste and expense. These, then, are the core values of man-made flight. Without them, planes would literally be falling out of the sky.
What about you? Are you meticulously following an explicitly detailed master plan? How much of what you do each day is by design? How much effort do you put into ensuring that every moment of each day is spent in alignment with your personal core values, mission and vision? For some, this sounds like a quasi-inspirational blabber. For others, it’s aspirational. Either way, you’re going to need some cheerleaders.
You won’t fall out of the sky
Not having ever gone through the process of exploring and arriving at what is important to you and where you want life to take you won’t necessarily prevent many from achieving success. Unlike airplanes, no one would fall out of the sky if they didn’t reach their potential. As a matter of fact, no one would even notice. On the other hand, I don’t think anyone would disagree that having explicit, written values and goals not only lower the risk of not achieving them, it could exponentially catalyze the process of capturing them and unleash elements and emotions you never knew existed.
Just to be clear, the whole process of discovering your values, mission, and vision involves just a few hours of work. Hardly anything!
Sounds like a bargain doesn’t it? Instead of three or four Games of Thrones episodes, you decide it’s time to consciously ascertain your personal values and the essence of your mission in life. You wouldn’t even have to binge-write them. As a matter of fact, it’s better if you carve out the hours over a couple of weeks to give you time to ponder between sessions.
Apply some magic
Ok, you’re still reading this, but you remain unmoved. I get it. But let’s assume, now, that, with the wave of my magic wand, you’ve miraculously put in the hours. Your perception of the world is forever changed because you either recognize how your choices lead you in the direction of your personal values and support your mission, or they lead you away from your values and are not in support of it. Each choice, then, becomes meaningful to you and you start to pay more attention to basically everything you do.
Now you’re thinking, Ok, I get it, but I don’t have the rigor or the discipline to be consistent. THAT’S MY POINT! Without a deep understanding (which comes from the process) you rely solely on rigor and discipline. That is precisely why values, mission and vision will be your three best buddies cheering you on.
Trust the process Luke
Let’s take some potential examples of what happens in your new eutopia, assuming that your primary relationship and health are two of the things your value most in life. Probably not a wild stab in the dark.
First, you recognize, explicitly – through the process, that your relationship with your spouse is the most significant relationship in your life. (Yes, you know it is implicitly, but the process will take you to a new level.) Arriving on time from work, then, has more meaning than just avoiding another argument. You pay more attention to coming home on time because instead of just avoiding an argument. You’re consciously building and strengthening your relationship due to the meaningfulness you see in your actions. You turn a vicious cycle into a virtuous one.
Second, you discover that keeping fit is one of your core values. Now, finding time to exercise is not dependent on how busy your life is; it is integrated into it. You start paying attention to your diet and sleep habits. You work on being efficient in the gym or in the way you run or cycle. Exercise moves from a guilt-ridden “should do” to a set of multi-lateral conscious decisions in your master plan of achieving success. The guilt from procrastination is transformed into the thrill of feeling physically fit and with more overall confidence in life. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, eh?
Dunning and Kruger are not your buddies
Those who doubt the power of incorporating core personal values into their lives, have, without a doubt, never gone through the process of discovering and integrating personal core values. You are likely to be biased by the Dunning Kruger Effect, which basically says: You don’t know what you don’t know. You don’t know that going through the process will unleash your ability to make consistent life-effecting change.
Actually, Dunning Kruger cuts two ways. Besides the, you don’t know what you don’t know, it also illustrates why those who do know, don’t understand how it’s possible that others don’t.
Perhaps you are familiar with certain religious or political discussions where both sides are astounded by the sheer ignorance of the other? This is why even your best friend can’t convince you. As the old proverb illustrates, A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.
The thing is, we don’t have the time or desire to try everything, so it usually takes a tipping point of information from sources you trust (friends, colleagues, articles, books, other media), influencing you to be willing to take the leap of faith – and that’s if you are open to learning!
Start through awareness
Awareness is the key to getting started. Awareness of how little time we have on earth; awareness of how much it makes sense to spend a few hours on the most important person in the world – you; and awareness of the fact that the responsibility for your personal growth lies within you and you alone.
If you haven’t listed your core values or created a mission and vision statement, take this as one more (GIGANTIC, HUMONGOUS) hint. If this has brought you to the tipping point, click here to set up an appointment with me or a member of the ScaleYOU team to learn more about going through this amazing life-changing process. My hope is that you at least see that you have a choice and that you are making one by going through or not going through the process.
