Understanding your values is very powerful when discovering who you are and how you react to different situations.

Knowing what you value allows you to live an authentic and genuine life based around your desires that will leave you feeling happy and fulfilled. There are many ways to identify your core values and maintain them. Values are the types of things that you are passionate about and deeply believe in that determine the way you live. Once you understand your values, you can set better goals for yourself, determine your priorities, and make decisions that are aligned with them.

By making a conscious effort to practice your values and align your daily life to them, you will feel a sense of satisfaction.

Determine What Makes You Happy

The first step to identifying your value system is asking yourself important questions about happiness and being honest with your answers. Think of times when you felt most satisfied and ask yourself about those situations. What did you like about the environment you were in? What types of people were you surrounded by and what do they value? What made the situation so great?After asking these questions, write down the types of people you value and types of places you value going. These will seem very broad at first, but as you think of more and more examples these values will become clearer.

Determine What Gives You Pride

This section of the exercise should be separated between personal and professional pride. Write down what aspects of family and your social life make you proud, and who you surround yourself that makes you feel proud. From a professional perspective, you will feel pride for getting certain tasks done, but be honest with yourself about whether or not you value the work you are completing. Do you feel as if you are making an impact on a company or a community that you feel passionate about? Are your colleagues proud of you when you accomplish something? These are questions you should be answering about what you value in both work and home.

Make a List

Based off of the thoughts that came about from the questions above, make a list of around six to ten values that you feel passionate about and that bring you genuine joy. Write down the people you value and the people that value you and why you feel value from those relationships. Keep this list and base every decision you make off of it. These values are what make you feel complete and satisfied, so they should be important in every aspect of your life. You will find patterns throughout your life that align with these values which will make them clearer over time.

Commit to Your Values

Committing to your values is the most important yet the most difficult task when attempting to live a more satisfying life. This means putting yourself first and making sure that you are benefitting from the decisions you make.

This may mean distancing yourself from people in your life who bring you down or have negative values, which can be very challenging.

Once you are able to realize what your core value system is and how you can apply it to every aspect of your life, you will feel a sense of pride and fulfilment on a daily basis. The most important way to truly understand your value system is to listen to yourself in an honest way that is free of judgment.

Once you know your values, you will know your worth and feel a greater sense of confidence and self-knowledge.