Why should our values matter to us?  Because our values are one of the most potent forces in our lives. These intangibles motivate and drive us in our work.  They inform all of our decisions. Along with our beliefs and feelings, values form our internal map of reality. Our values are powerful because they supply our work (and everything else in our lives) with meaning. Real meaning. Meaning that has purpose and depth that reflects who we are in the world.  Without them, we get attached (some might say – fixated) to external motivators and rewards.
 

Without a strong sense of our values guiding and supporting us, we can also get caught up in other people’s values – spouses, colleagues, partners, families, cultures. There is nothing wrong with that except that without awareness of how to recognize and satisfy our own core values, we can lose our way and find ourselves working in the service of someone else’s causes and goals.
 

It’s easy to be cynical about using words and calling them values. But values – real values – are fundamental to our purpose as human beings. When we consciously choose to understand them – and the behaviors they drive – a whole range of new choices can open to us.