“Value Based Lifestyle”

Our 2nd session in the WOW series (put on through ¡Adelante Coaching! and RICH CHICKS) on June 15th was entitled, “Value Based Lifestyle” and focused on identifying the core values that make up your belief system. (see my earlier blog entries for a recap of session 1 and for a summary of the class). Although many of us go through vast changes in life, our values often remain the same. Values are all about who you are as a person. Once your basic needs are met, you tend to express yourself through your values.

What shifts, is our ‘core’ values (top 5 values) that drive our current lifestyle and decisions (they are also what can cause unhappiness when we are living a life outside of our core values). As we grow and change, our core values change with us. An example of this is my own core values changing: In my teens and twenties, I valued independence more than I valued security. This was part of the rational behind my choosing to move to a different state where I knew no one, after graduating from college. In my forties, I still value independence, but not in the same way. I now value security more than I value independence. Relationships have remained a core value for me throughout these years.

It’s important for us to know what our core values are; they drive our decision-making and the way we live our lives. When I am most happy and content, I am making decisions within my values and belief system, and my needs are met. When I am unhappy or angry, most likely I am experiencing something that contradicts with my own values and/or needs.

After identifying your top 5 core values, the next step is to describe for each value what it means to you, by writing down examples of how you live those values. (ie: I value the relationship with my partner by having time each day for us to check in with each other, and for us to have at least one ‘date night’ per week where we spend time together.) This will help you not only define what that value means, but to assist your journey into the next step of placing those values into lifestyle and monetary changes. Once we can identify our core values, it is easier for us to make changes in our lifestyle to fit those values, and look at where our monetary contributions and decisions impact positively and/or negatively on our values. Only then, can we begin to look at our core values in relation to each other as well as in relation to our current resources.

Questions and exercises for you to consider:
o Brainstorm all of your values, and then prioritize them (or at least put them into differing levels of importance).
o In identifying your values, ask yourself, “What is so important to me, that if I didn’t live it, I would be uncomfortable, or unhappy.
o Summarize each value with ONE word.
o Look at how your core values have changed over the years. What habits do you have leftover from values that no longer in your ‘core’ list?
o What resources do you currently have access to, that you can utilize to fulfill some of the specific examples of living your values?

Please know that it is not uncommon to find it difficult to define your core values, but that’s exactly where a coach can help. For more information about WOW classes or to inquire about coaching, please contact me at: sandi@adelantecoaching.com. Wishing your well in your aligning your own values to your lifestyle and monetary identity!

Be well,
Sandi

“Understanding the Gap”

Today was the first teleclass of the WOW (Walk of Women) teleclass series I am doing with Mickey Mikeworth (see last month’s blog). This will be the first class in a series that we are doing for women combining life coaching and financial eduation. This first class is all about “creating your own monetary identity”. The background of this is related to how each of us have developed and grown into the identities that we currently own (or use) and that for women especially, the one of “monetary identity” no longer fits our current lifestyle or values.

Session 1 in this class is entitled, “Understanding The Gap”. Growth does create gaps. When we grow or improve ourselves, financially or otherwise, we become different than what we were. As simple as this sounds, we rarely think of this in relation to financial growth. After some education and statistics about women and financial earnings, today’s participants were challenged to look at their own lives in order to understand their own “gap”. Mickey challenged those to consider the three ways for women to NOT move toward economic growth: 1) by staying in a job that is comfortable, possibly a career where there is a limited ‘ceiling’, 2) not having enough education, information or training to move forward, and 3) not having a network that supports you, that works for you.

Here are some questions for you to consider:
o What are some of your old patterns and reward systems that no longer fit for you?
o With whom are you choosing to spend your professional and personal time?
o Do your current values match your lifestyle and financial choices?
o What are your gifts and how do you share them with others?
o Have you found yourself in a position where didn’t feel able to offer your gifts or your wealth in a way that supports your belief system?
o Do you have a desire to change your economic growth?

So, I’ll leave you with those questions and thoughts. Next week’s class (which I will also summarize here in my blog) is entitled, “Value Based Lifestyle”. This session will include identifying top values, looking at what resources we use, and describing how and what values are being directed towards those values. Tune in next week for more information. Feel free to contact me at sandi@adelantecoaching.com if you are interested in receiving information about the next available WOW class.

Enjoy the weather and Happy Father’s Day!
Sandi