Return on Life: Link Goals to Core Values

In order to set meaningful goals that you truly care about achieving, you need to ensure that there is a link between your goals/actions and your core values. A college professor in a workshop I conducted recently for a small college in West Virginia provides a perfect example of this. We'd gone through an exercise where each individual identified the 5 values that resonated most with them, then identified a goal for the coming year. The next step was to consider whether the goal had a link back to one or more of the values.

One professor offered that at first glance, his goal didn't match up, but in his mind, he could see the link. Here's what he said: "I have a goal of improving my health. My top value is achievement in my field. At first glance, those don't seem exactly related, but I know that my health is becoming an issue."

He had it exactly right! He realizes that he has to take some steps to improve his health, and that it is important to him because if he doesn't, he will not be able to live his highest value of achievement. Each time he takes a step to improve his health (eat a proper meal, exercise, etc.), he should remind himself that he is doing it so that he will be healthy enough to continue to advance and achieve in his field. That's the core value that will drive him. For someone else, health in and of itself might be the highest value, but for him, it's the achievement. By making the link in his own mind, he'll be more motivated to stick to his "get healthy" goal.

What goals do you have? Can you link them back to a core value for yourself? Let me know what you think!