DR. NELLA GODFRYD

THE IMPORTANCE OF VALUES

This is the third article in a 12 part series on How to Plan and Improve Your Life in which I discuss how to write and use a strategic plan for your life. If you haven’t already read the previous articles, I suggest you do so to get an overview of the topic. In this article I will be discussing the importance of values —–

After assessing your current situation, think about what is most important to you—your values. Have you ever stopped to think about what you value most? It is important that you know your values because our values guide our thoughts, words, and actions. The choices and decisions we make or fail to make, reflect our values. If success in life is one of our core values, we will do whatever we believe we need to do to be successful.

Other core values include love, peace, joy, good health, harmonious relationships, wealth, balance, service, excellence, respect, honesty, family, learning, meaningful work, fun, security, comfort, and loyalty. Unfortunately, some people also value things such as greed, evil, and revenge and sometimes these values conflict with the better ones such as love, peace, and joy. Do you know or remember the story of love versus greed? I will summarize it for you and you can find more details in the Bible.

Many years ago, God manifested himself in the form of Jesus Christ. He was wonderful, loving, kind, and sinless. He went about doing so much good and many of the things he did are recorded in the Bible.

Jesus had 12 disciples, one of whom was Judas. Because of greed, Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. When Judas saw that the innocent Jesus was condemned, he was full of remorse. He returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, threw it in the temple, went away and hung himself.

Soon after, Jesus was crucified, died, and buried. It was a horrible death. Yet, he allowed it to happen because of his love for people – those who lived during his time, and all of us who came after. But Jesus did not remain in the grave. After three days he rose, and according to the Bible, he was seen by many, and he later ascended into heaven. Love triumphed greed!  There is nothing as valuable as love.

Whatever your values may be, know them, use them as a guide to improve your life, and always incorporate them when making major decisions. If excellence is important to you, do not accept mediocrity. If meaningful work is important to you, do not spend the rest of your life in a job that means little to you. Do something about it. When you know and live by the values that are most important to you, then you will be more successful and improve your life. Use your values as a guide in creating your vision, mission, and goals, and your strategies for achieving them.

****

In the next article I will be discussing how to get a compelling vision for your life so you can improve it. Meanwhile, I would love to hear from you and about your progress, so please leave your comments below.

To learn more about how to improve your life, read Transform Your Life: 7 Steps to a Better Life.

Click the link below to download the first chapter FREE

Transform Your Life – 7 Steps to a Better Life – Chapter 1