Define Your Values, Then Yourself

Another great tip from our friends at Daily Launch
http://www.ladieswholaunch.com/magazine/daily-launchtip-june-4-2009/3260

In the same way that losing 10 pounds is not a panacea for depression, manifesting what you want won’t make you happy unless what you are manifesting is what you truly want. The only way to get clear on what you want is to take inventory of your values. In their simplest sense, values can be defined as “what you spend time on”, “what you focus on”, and “what you devote your energies to”. There is a short exercise you can do that will give you insight into what you say your values are versus what your actions indicate. First, make a list of the top 5 things you value and put them in order of the most important to the least. Be honest with yourself and keep your list private. Next, spend one week recording the time you spend on every activity from talking on the phone, to walking the dog, to picking up your child, to the thoughts you think. Compare your top 5 list to the record you created of your activities. How do they match up? For example, if one of your top 5 was “traveling with my family”, how much time in the last week did you spend around this value (doing it, researching it, talking about it, even daydreaming about it)? Notice the gaps or the disconnects between your list and your actions. Ask yourself: Am I spending time on the things I listed as values or am I unconsciously exerting energy in directions that don’t serve me or my life goals? Only you can know the answer and then make changes accordingly.