what are your core values?

Hello! I am Dr. Gary Sprouse, AKA the Less Stress Doc and I am here to help you. I want to see a beaming smile on your face while you’re living in your Happy Place, easily managing the stresses that try to derail you. 

I was reading a book about stress reduction and the book explained that if you are doing things at home or work that don’t align with your core values, it would increase your stress.

The questions that I asked myself were:

• Why are core values important?

• What are my core values?

Here’s what my research uncovered to answer these 2 questions.

Core values provide a direction and purpose to our life. By defining what is important to us, we can make decisions about what to do with our lives. That was true for me as I have been on a mission to help a million people have less stress. 

Our core values allow us to find others with the same values and build a relationship with them. I found that with my involvement with Rotary, where there is a group of like-minded people. Our values help us make ethical decisions and foster personal growth. 

That was true when the pendulum of medicine swung from saying that doctors are under-treating patients with pain to now doctors were overtreating them. My care of patients was for their best interest. I was able to navigate the change in direction and I was a better doctor. Values can also enhance well-being, build resilience, improve communities and inspire others

The next question was, What are my core values? 

I found a list of 62 possible core values and then picked the ones that were most important to me. It was interesting to determine if one value was more important than another. The simple way to determine that was to put the 2 values to the test. If financial security and ethical behavior were 2 core values, what would you do if you were given a large sum of money that was supposed to go to another person. Depending on your answer, that value would be higher on the list.

For values that encompass security, there was certainty, control, financial security, health, job security, peace, privacy, security and trust. 

I picked trust for me. I want people to be honest, predictable, using accurate communication and tactful when conveying negative information. 

For values of Love and Belonging, there was acceptance, compassion, family, forgiveness, friendship, love, loyalty, religion, teamwork, and tradition.

This was difficult for me to choose so I picked compassion because my goal in life has been to help others. But family, forgiveness and teamwork were close behind.

For values of Esteem there was appreciation, authority, beauty, competence, courage, fame, influence, popularity, reputation, respect, uniqueness and wealth.

My main core value from this group was influence. With influence I can be more effective at helping people. But I find I react to appreciation, too. My love language was “words of affirmation.” And I do react to disrespect so I clearly value this. I try hard to appreciate and respect others and expect it to come back to me.

For values of growth there is accountability, adventure, ambition, challenge, curiosity, determination, discipline, excellence, growth, intelligence, success, variety and wisdom.

Growth is the most important for me. Growth allows me to change as my knowledge increases. It allows me to react to my changing environment. Curiosity and adventure go hand in hand with growth and I find both important to me.

For values of self actualization, there is authenticity, commitment, contribution, creativity, equality, ethics, excitement, freedom, helpfulness, independence, inner harmony, justice, meaningful work, passion, pleasure, spirituality, tolerance, empathy and self-awareness.

For this value, I picked self-awareness and empathy. This has been critical for many other values to be expressed. Know yourself so you can understand why you react the way you do. Know others so you know why they do what they do. This leads to more tolerance, more choices, more harmony and justice.

That was my exercise, now it’s your turn. Go online and take the personal values online test. It’s free. You’ll find it here: https://personalvalu.es/personal-values-test

Knowing your core values will guide you when making decisions, help you feel better about yourself and reduce your stress significantly when your actions align with these values. Try it. 

I hope you find these 5 minutes help you spend more time healthy and happy. I really want you to spend your life in your Happy Place with a beaming smile on your face.  Remember, I am here to help you.