Values and Goals

  

     Last weekend, Nick and I drove to Chicago and attended something called FUEL.  We learned about leadership, inspiring action in others, challenging ourselves to meet our goals, identifying our values and so much more!  It was SO inspirational and we came back home feeling motivated and ready to "Change Our Stars" (if you've seen A Knight's Tale, you'll know what I mean).

     We learned
-we should ALWAYS set Goals and be working towards those Goals!
-to create those Goals, we must know what it truly important to us!
-to know what is really important to us, we must know what our Values are!

     So, during FUEL, we did an exercise were we looked back on our lives and identified the times in the past when we were 1. happiest, when we were the 2. most proud and when we were the 3. most fulfilled and satisfied.  In each of those three areas, we had to write down 5 examples.  For example, I was the happiest when I was with Nick, traveling overseas to visit friends, seeing a new country, trying new foods, taking photos and blogging about all of it…I was the most proud when Nick and I paid off all of his student loans because we had a mutual goal, we sacrificed and we did it together…I was the most fulfilled and satisfied when I spent time learning about things like natural products and simple living and talking to other people about what I learned through word of mouth or blogging.

     Once we got all of that written down, we had a list of words that we could chose to determine our TOP Values.  This part was actually SUPER difficult, because there were so many words to chose from!

     We finally narrowed our values down to these:

Making a difference

loyalty

generosity

freedom

excellence

health

adventurousness

simplicity

     It meant a lot to me to look at this list and know that Nick and I share these Values!!!  I LOVE HIM SO MUCH :)  Ok, there I said it…its out…moving on…

     After getting our Values figured out, it was time to create our Goals!  We learned that Goals only work if they line up with our Values.  So, here is Our Bucket List…it is basically our life Goals that we created and have been editing since we met each other in 2005.  But, do you want to know our BIG SCARY GOAL??????

BIG SCARY GOAL:  To be able to support ourselves in such a way that we are able to pack up and travel the world, while teaching people about health and participating in and supporting world missions.

     I was actually inspired when I realized that our BIG SCARY GOAL is totally in line with our Values!!!!!  Since we didn't even try to manipulate this to turn out "our" way, it confirmed with us AGAIN that God truly does have a hand in our dreams and the direction that our lives take!  

     The last step was figuring out what is getting in the way of us achieving our Goals.  We had to write down ten ways that we are doubtful, fearful or just disbelieving that our goal can actually happen.  For example, "I don't think that we will ever accomplish our BIG SCARY GOAL because I don't think that we will ever have enough money and I don't think that it will work out because it is just too crazy."  Then, we had to take that and create an opposite.  For example, "we are good at saving money, we have traveled the world many times before and we are already involved in world missions, so there is no reason why we can't accomplish our BIG SCARY GOAL."

     I challenge you to figure out your Values and create your Goals!  You only have one life.  Make it count and live with no regrets!

One of my favorites from FUEL…

"Will the next five years of your life be the BEST five years of your life or just another five years?"