An effective personal growth and self improvement program will include self examination of personal values. Understanding one's personal values can help reduce stress and anxiety, both on the job and at home.
For the reader following the sample self improvement program described in Personal Development Program – Building Awareness, this article relates to and expands upon week seven activities.
What are Personal Values?
Personal values are those attributes of thought and behavior one holds dear. Values are the standards a person expects of herself and others. Personal values are built over time beginning when the child is taught to conform to family values. Over time, the adult serious about self improvement will examine, question, and modify the set of personal values that govern acceptable behaviors.
How to Reduce Stress and Anxiety
It is important to understand one's personal values and to construct a life consistent with the values, as this is when one feels most authentic and true to self. In potentially stressful situations, you can reduce stress and anxiety by recognizing which of your values are most relevant to the circumstances. Taking actions consistent with those values will reduce stress and anxiety.
Reducing Job Stress
Stress at work often results from being in a position where the required actions in a situation run counter to the employee's own personal values. The most effective way to reduce or eliminate this stress is to find a way to behave consistent with personal values while somehow conforming to requirements of the employer.
Sometimes this is not possible. Fearing loss of employment the worker may opt to follow required behaviors and accept the resulting stress. The level of stress may be mitigated somewhat by simply recognizing that a personal value is being compromised, but is being done so to preserve employment.
Develop a List of Personal Values
Enjoy the self improvement and growth benefits of gaining personal values clarity by following this process:
- Download and print this list of possible personal values.
- Going down the list slowly, place a mark by each word that describes something very important to you. It's vital here that you differentiate values important to you personally from values generally held in high esteem by your culture, family, or friends.
- If your resulting list contains more than ten values, carefully review your selections, paring the list until you have ten or less of your most important values.
Confirm the Personal Values List
To confirm your values list visualize yourself violating each value. Simply visualizing a values conflict will normally feel very uncomfortable. Another means of confirming values may be by observing your spending habits. As Gloria Steinem once observed, "We can tell our values by looking at our checkbook stubs."
Self Improvement Steps in Values Alignment
With a brief list of very important personal values in mind, review the major roles and responsibilities of your life. Identify any which often place you in conflict with your values. These are areas of opportunity for personal growth and development. Work on ways to modify or replace each role or responsibility which results in a values conflict.
Readers may also enjoy Development of Personal Values and Cheer Up Feel Good and Live Longer.
Jerry Lopper - IPPA member, business and engineering degrees. Jerry's passion for personal development shows in 5 books, hundreds of articles & ...
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