What is value?
A value is
a belief, a mission, or a philosophy that is meaningful. Whether we are
consciously aware of them or not, every individual has a core set of personal
values. Values can range from the commonplace, such as the belief in hard work
and punctuality, to the more psychological, such as self-reliance, concern
for others, and harmony of purpose.
When we
examine the lives of famous people, we often see how personal values guided
them, propelling them to the top of their fields. For example, one actor was
motivated by his commitment to social justice, which led to important
acting roles related to that value that made him world famous. Likewise, a
well-known business CEO was motivated by the personal value that technology
should be easy to use, which caused his company to spawn a technology
revolution. Whatever one's values, when we take them to heart and implement
them in the smallest details of our lives, great accomplishment and
success are sure to follow.
Values are psychological objects. Although
we cannot see or touch them, they are every bit as real as any physical object.
People may dedicate their entire lives or even give up their lives to pursue
their values, as so many loyal patriots have done fighting for values of
freedom, equality and human rights during the past two centuries.
We all have
values that determine our decisions and guide our lives. Those who value their
individuality take responsibility, are self-reliant and act with self-respect.
Those who value truthfulness cannot bring themselves to tell a lie. Those who
value family or friendship sacrifice their personal interests for the good of
others. Those who value goodness cannot bring themselves to do something they
know is wrong. We express values in our relations with other people when we are
loyal, reliable, honest, generous, trusting, trustworthy, feel a sense of
responsibility for family, friends, co-workers, our organization, community or
country. On a more physical level, we may place great value on cleanliness,
punctuality, orderliness, accuracy, quality, and physical perfection in
whatever we do.
We can
energize our lives by making the full effort to implement the values we subscribe
to. Once we identify values that are meaningful to us, we can develop strategies
to implement them. When we make the determined effort to implement those
strategies, good fortune is sure to follow -- in the form of new opportunities,
new sources of revenue and income, and other forms of material and
psychological benefit. We may even notice that as we implement values, we
experiences instances of "life
response" -- where good fortune suddenly comes to us from seemingly
out of nowhere, defying our normal perceptions of what is logical and possible.
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