My wellness coach training instructors emphasized the importance of having clients identify their values. Our values impact our behavior, and we experience greater wellbeing when our behavior aligns with our values. We learned that when a person has clarity on their values, identifying what lifestyle changes to make becomes easier, and they are more likely to stick with changes that reflect their values.
I've been exploring how I can integrate values work into my (future) coaching business. There are plenty of questionnaires available, and I'm sure they’re lovely, but when I recalled the Lisa Congdon podcast episode in which she talks about creating The Live Your Values Deck, I knew that was for me.
With a friend, Congdon created this colorful card deck to help people clarify and rank the ten core values they want to guide their life. The deck is made up of 78 cards that list different values, and the deck's tagline is Sort Out, Honor, and Practice What Matters Most to You.
Of course I had to try out the values deck myself to get a feel for it. The process was so fun! I adore Congdon's illustrations. In a world that's becoming ever-more digital, it felt good to engage in an activity that involved holding something material in my hands. I especially enjoyed the physicality of the process and the presence of the images, since values are so abstract.
I ended up doing the exercise twice, on different days. The first time, I did it exactly as instructed, trying to identify what my core values are now. It was easy narrowing down the 78 cards to about 40, but apparently I highly value about 40 different concepts! After much hemming and hawing, I finally narrowed those down to 10 cards.
Throughout the next day, I noticed a sense within me that, while they were accurate, the value cards I'd chosen didn't resonate or feel useful. It was more as if they described my current personality rather than where I want to grow.
For example, some of my initial top values cards were openness, curiosity, and creativity. Those describe me to a t, but I don't need to keep them at front of mind, because open, curious, and creative is just who I am. If anything, I could benefit from balancing those traits by consciously prioritizing boundaries, focus, and stability.
So, I redid the process while thinking about values as a beginning, a starting point for where I want to guide my life in 2024, and came up with almost entirely different cards. It was fun considering values through the lens of where I'm going rather vs. where I've been, because it allowed me to recognize how my core values have transformed over time.
I'm considering getting the cards framed, or having my photo of them turned into a poster, for another visual reminder of the life I want to live. I'll keep you updated on how living from these values impacts me.
this seems like a really cool and useful exercise!!