Why core values matter

I recently wrote about facing an ethical dilemma. I mentioned the importance of having a clear set of values you adhere to. In this post, I will write about why it's essential to determine which values are most important to you and how to come up with a list of them.

Decisions

It is estimated that every day we make around 35,000 decisions. From what color socks we wear to how to approach a coworker with a tough challenge. Knowing one's values will prove crucial, especially when making life's most impactful decisions, such as taking a job offer, choosing which friends you hang with, business partnerships, and significant others. Choosing to do things and be with people who share core values will make sense in the long run.

Long Term View

Our impulsive selves will usually incline towards choises that have a high financial impact or short-term gains. Making decisions taking our values into account will not necessarily make us choose what seems best today but, instead, what is better for us in the long term. Deciding with the long-term in mind, and prioritizing our values over the short-term value of a potential offer will prove best down the road.

Consistency

"What you do is who you are" is the title of a book by Ben Horowitz. It is also very much true. It's not so much what or who we think we are, but what we actually do and how we behave that matters. As much as Trump would want me believe that he is a 2 handicap in golf, I can not trust a man whose whole life has been proved to be lying. Maybe integrity is not a core value for him, but loyalty and superiority might be. If so, good for him. But it cannot be expected for people to believe of him to be honest.

Tomorrow I will write a bit about  how to discover, prioritize and live your values.