How to Align Your Goals With Your Values

I wrote last about the power of words and our thoughts.  There is so much to explore here but for now I want to share with you a tool for discovering and narrowing down your ideals and finding your passion.  It's a word game to help prioritize your goals and it's quick and easy to do.

I. First, quickly read through the following list of words and pick only 10 that are important to you. (Quickly, don't over think it.)

Ability

Abundance

Acceptance

Accuracy

Achievement

Acknowledgement

Adventure

Altruism

Balance

Beauty

Brotherhood

Charity

Children

Comfort

Communication

Compassion

Competence

Contentment

Conquest

Cooperation

Courage

Creativity

Culture

Dignity

Discovery

Duty

Ease

Energy

Enjoyment

Excitement

Fame

Family

Forgiveness

Freedom

Friendship

Fun

Glory

God

Goodness

Greatness

Growth

Happiness

Health

Honesty

Honor

Hope

Humility

Independence

Individuality

Innocence

Innovation

Integrity

Intimacy

Joy

Justice

Kindness

Knowledge

Law-abidance

Learning a mark

Leisure

Love

Making a difference

Mastery

Maturity

Money

Nature

Originality

Patience

Peace of mind

Pleasure

Popularity

Positivity

Power

Prestige

Pride

Privacy

Property

Prosperity

Purpose

Reason

Respect

Responsibility

Risk

Romance

Routine

Safety

Security

Self-control

Self-esteem

Self-interest

Service

Spirituality

Strength

Success

Support

Surrender

Talent

Teamwork

Trust

Truth

Wealth

Wisdom

Working with people

II. Next, narrow that list down even further to the 5 most important to you.

III. Now adjust the words in order of importance, for example, say to yourself, "In the context of my career  (or "life" or "happiness", etc., choose what is relevant to you) this is more important than that."

Can you see how this helps your goals become more clear?  Refer to your list often, post it on your mirror or vision board, keep it in your journal or planner.  You will now be able to stay more aligned with your aspirations and goals, helping you manifest your dreams and stay in tune with your core values.

Sat nam,
Samantha

Finally... a Vision Board

I have always wanted to make a vision board but, like many things, I just kept putting it off.  I often wonder why it is we procrastinate things we know will help us, or simply don't do the things that will make us feel better in general like daily exercise and eating well.  One reason I know I put it off is because I tend to over think things or become overwhelmed at the mere thought.

 Here is the start of my vision board. I came up with the idea of a tree representing the categories to show growth, strength, and contentedness. The categories I settled on are:

• Spirituality and Service
• Relationships and Recreation
• Creativity
• Health and Happiness
• Knowledge
• Prosperity

I've enjoyed the process and had fun just creating something once again.  I still need to add pictures. I have been shocked how quickly it has worked even though I'm not even finished. 

If you haven't made one yet I encourage you to do so!  You, too, will find enjoyment in creating and an added bonus of extra focus for your life's goals.

Sat nam,

Samantha