Have you ever felt like life is moving at warp speed? As someone balancing work, relationships, and the occasional chaos of ADHD, some days feel like a non-stop roller coaster. But what if I told you there’s a powerful tool to help you reset and realign your life? In this post, we’ll explore the transformative power of personal core values.
What Are Core Values?
Core values are the fundamental beliefs that guide our decisions and behaviors. They’re like the GPS for your life journey, helping you navigate through tough choices and keeping you on track with what truly matters to you. Dr. John Demartini, in his book “The Value Factor,” describes core values as the driving forces behind our actions and the key to living a fulfilling life.
For those with ADHD, identifying and sticking to personal core values can be especially beneficial. They offer a clear framework for decision-making, which is invaluable when faced with the overwhelming options and distractions that often come with ADHD.
Why Core Values Matter
Having core values are becoming increasingly important as they offer stability and guidance in uncertain times.
Here’s why they matter:
- Provides Clarify: In our hyper-connected, always-on society, personal core values help you cut through the noise and focus on what’s truly important. They act as a filter, helping you prioritize information and make decisions aligned with your true self.
- Resilience in Uncertainty: As challenges arise, your core values serve as an anchor, giving you stability and direction. They help you stay on track, even when things around you are uncertain.
- Authentic Living: In a time of social media personas and constant comparison, personal core values help you live authentically, aligning your actions with who you truly are. They allow you to resist the pressure to conform and stay true to living a life that’s genuinely yours.
- Improved Focus: For individuals with ADHD, core values can be a powerful tool for maintaining focus and prioritizing tasks. By aligning your actions with your values, you create a clearer path forward, reducing overwhelm and boosting motivation.
- Enhanced Decision-Making: When facing tough decisions, your core values provide a reliable guide. They help you weigh options based on what truly matters, leading to more fulfilling choices.
- Greater Life Satisfaction: Living in alignment with your core values brings a deeper sense of fulfillment and purpose. As Dr. Demartini explains, when our actions reflect our highest values, we find greater satisfaction and meaning in life.
How to Discover Your Core Values
Discovering your core values is a process of self-reflection and exploration.
Here are some strategies to help you uncover your core values:
- Reflect on Peak Experiences: Consider the moments when you felt most fulfilled, energized, and content. What values were you honoring during those times? These peak experiences often reveal your core values.
- Consider Your Heroes: Who do you admire most? What values do they embody? Often, the qualities we admire in others reflect the values we hold dear ourselves.
- Examine Your Frustrations: What situations trigger anger or frustration for you? These reactions often point to values you feel are being violated. Our strongest emotional responses can reveal important insights into our core values.
- Use a Values List: Look through a list of common values and see which ones resonate with you most strongly. Pay attention to your emotional response as you review the list.
- Journal Regularly: Set aside time each week to write about your experiences and the principles that guided your actions. Over time, patterns will emerge that point to your personal core values.
- Analyze Your Decisions: Look back at significant decisions you’ve made in your life. What values influenced those choices? Reflecting on your past decisions can help reveal your core values.
Aligning Your Life with Your Core Values
Once you’ve identified your core values, the real work begins.
Here’s how to start aligning your life with these principles:
- Daily Check-ins: Each morning, review your core values and set intentions for the day. This practice helps keep your values at the forefront of your mind and guides your daily actions.
- Decision-Making Framework: When faced with a choice, ask yourself, “Which option aligns best with my core values?” Use your values as a compass to guide your decisions, both big and small.
- Environment Audit: Evaluate your work, home, and social environments. Do they support your core values? If not, consider what changes you can make to create more alignment in your surroundings.
- Habit Formation: Create habits that reinforce your personal core values. For example, if “health” is a core value, establish a regular exercise routine. If “creativity” is important to you, set aside time each day for creative pursuits.
- Relationships: Nurture relationships with people who share or respect your core values. Be mindful of relationships that consistently conflict with your values and consider how to address these discrepancies.
Core Values and ADHD Management
For those with ADHD, core values can be a powerful tool in managing symptoms and improving overall life satisfaction:
- Prioritization: Use your core values to identify which tasks are truly important, helping to reduce overwhelm. When looking at a long to-do list, ask yourself which tasks align most closely with your values, and prioritize those.
- Motivation: When tasks align with your values, you’re more likely to feel motivated to complete them. Understanding the “why” behind your actions gives you the drive to push past procrastination.
- Impulse Control: Before acting on an impulse, take a moment to pause and ask yourself if the action aligns with your core values. This brief reflection can lead to more intentional and thoughtful choices.
- Self-Compassion: Living by your personal core values is a journey. Be kind to yourself when you struggle, and celebrate the wins when you succeed. Your core values can provide a framework for self-evaluation that’s based on your own standards, not external expectations.
Final Thoughts:
Your Reset Starts Now
As we head into a new year, the power to reset and realign our lives lies within us. By identifying and living according to our personal core values, we create a life that’s not just productive, but deeply fulfilling.
Whether you’re dealing with ADHD or simply seeking more purpose in your daily life, start your journey of self-discovery today, and watch as your life transforms, one value-aligned decision at a time.
The path to resetting and realigning your life isn’t always straightforward, but with your core values as a guide, you’ll keep moving in the right direction. As Dr. Demartini highlights, living in alignment with your highest values is key to unlocking your full potential and finding true fulfillment.
Take the time to discover and honor your values. By doing so, you’re not just navigating life’s roller coaster—you’re designing the ride.
