Values and Beliefs
We all have our own values and beliefs. The things that are important to us, that make us who we are.
Let’s start with our values - these are the things which we hold dear, the things which are important to us. In coaching we use something called the wheel of life to get our clients to think about their values and understand how these sit within their lives.
Think of the wheel as having segments, like the segments of an orange - in each of these segments you write a value. For example - Spirituality, Health, Career, Finances, Family, Relationships, Friends, Hobbies, Fun, Travel, Personal Growth etc
Then in each segment you assign it a number from 1-10 depending on how satisfied and fulfilled you are with that area of your life.
So for example you could be in your ideal job, making a 6 figure salary and feeling absolutely content with your life here. This would be a 10. On the other hand you may be working so much you barely have time for yourself and your fun level is at a 2 so you mark the fun segment a 2.
You can get creative with this and colour the segments in according to the number - so if its a 2 you colour in just a small chunk of the segment, however if it is a 10 you colour the whole damn segment in! What ever works for you to give this impact.
An example wheel of wellness I use.
Now there are no right or wrong answers to this and it is purely a subjective and individual exercise but it helps you look at your life and think -’Are there things I want to change?’ ‘Where do I want to focus my efforts?’
This exercise can be adapted for any area of your life. You can do a wheel just for health and fitness, or just for career, or just for personal growth. It really has endless possibilities and this is something I use with my clients to help them formulate some goals to get them moving forward and starting to live the life they love.
Why don’t you have a go at doing your own wheel of life exercise?
Next, let’s look at your beliefs. We all have belief systems. We learn these as we are growing up. We are taught by our parents, our environment, our social settings, our education - it all leads to us forming a certain set of beliefs, that we live our lives by.
On the whole our beliefs serve to make us who we are but there are times when we have what we call self limiting beliefs. These are things we think are true but are in fact false realities that stop us from achieving our full potential.
An example of this is maybe - I could never be a doctor. No-one else in my family is a doctor. We are not brainy enough in this family to be doctors. This is a self limiting belief.
Being a doctor requires hard work, a good education and a university degree. All of which are completely attainable to anyone who wants it so badly they are willing to go through the hardship to get there - they just need to believe they can do it.
If you want something enough then you can achieve absolutely anything. Now I am not saying there won’t be challenges, that for some the path to becoming a doctor will be so hard that giving up is indeed a lot easier and other professions would seem more attractive. What I am saying here is that by already having the negative voice in your head that is telling you ‘noone else in your family is a doctor so you cant do it’ is a self limiting belief. It limits who you are and stops you from achieving a goal that is absolutely possible. You just need to change your beliefs.
Beliefs are not set in stone. Yes some will be ingrained and harder to alter but you can absolutely change what you believe, if that is something you feel you need to.
Believing you are here for a purpose - Believing that you are capable of anything - Believing that you are in control of your own life. This is where you should all be and if you are not there yet then I promise you, it is possible. If you need my help then get in touch, I can’t wait to help you!
Helen xx