2020-09-27 Be clear about your v

We all have values — the things that matter most to us in life. But the problem is, for most of us, those values are surprisingly vague and unclear.

And when our values are unclear — when we don’t know what we really want and where we truly want to go — it makes it easy to get lost in unhealthy habits like worry, rumination, and procrastination. And all of these make for a pretty unhappy and discontent mind.

Let’s look at a specific example:

Suppose one of your values is creativity. For you, the ability to express yourself freely and imaginatively is one of the most important parts of being alive. And while you know how much creativity matters to you, you don’t spend nearly as much time actually working on creative projects as you would like.

• Maybe you tend to start new projects but quickly get distracted and jump to newer and newer projects but never making traction on any one specifically.
• Or maybe you have one creative project that’s important to you, but you procrastinate on it all the time. Again, never making sustained progress in your creativity.

One of the reasons for this could be that your value of creativity is too vague and unclear. And what you really need — more than focus or better tools for dealing with procrastination — is to simply get more clarity and specificity about your value of creativity.

For example, here are some questions you might ask yourself that would clarify your value of creativity, and in the process, make it easier to actually live out that value:

• In what ways do I most enjoy being creative? What are the biggest obstacles to me pursuing those ways of being creative?
• Who are some of my creative heroes? What are the specific habits, practices, or routines they live by?
• What are my biggest fears and insecurities about creativity and being creative? Where do these come from and what habits am I engaged in that maintain them?
• What would the practical benefits of me being more creative be? How would being more creative improve my life, or the lives of other people, in tangible ways?

The point is simply this:

For your values to be strong enough to impact your behavior, they must be clear enough to take action on.

And when we do clarify our values — and align our actions with them — peace of mind and happiness tend to follow.

If you want to cultivate a happier, healthier mind, learn to clarify your values.