11 Jul Your Personal Values: A Few Thoughts From Our President, Jeff Russell

At the end of my message two weeks ago, I shared that I would be talking more about values.  

What are your values?  

Typically, our values are formed or handed down to us from our family, our upbringing, and/or experiences from long ago. And often, we hold onto those values throughout our adult life. Remember BRULES (bullshit rules). 

So, I have an idea. What if we wrote down the values that we learned in our younger years, wrote down where they came from, and most importantly if they are still serving us now?  

Here are a few examples:  

• Valuing hard work –> Learned from dad —> Yes. It serves me well now. 
• Opinion of money —> Learned from media –> No. It doesn’t serve me now.  
• Having the approval of others –> Learned from teachers –> No. It doesn’t serve me now. 

Once we have this, we are in a better spot to let go of values that are no longer serving us, and we have the opportunity to replace them with new values that will serve us in this present moment (and maybe for years to come).

To start this new list, here are a few things to get the wheels spinning:  

• What values do you want in your life to feel fulfilled?  
• What types of values keep showing up in your life? 
• What are the values that are core to the way you do your job, maintain your relationships, parent your children, and/or lead others?  

Now that you have an updated list, the final step is to see if you are living these out. To do this, track what you spend your time doing in a given week, with who, etc… Does how you are spending your time (and with who) reflect your values?  

If yes, awesome! If not, change how you spend your time and with who! There’s no point in having a list of values if you aren’t living them.  

PS – Most of the ideas in this message came from Think Like a Monk by Jay Sheti. Check it out if you’re on the hunt for a good read.  

Life is good. – Jeff  

If you have any questions about our services or need escrow assistance, please reach out. We are here to serve you!