First, for everyone in the US, Happy Thanksgiving! For everyone not in the US, well, Happy Thursday!?!
Usually, I write a blog and you read it. However, this is a week of thanks. My grandfather told me that for him, Thanksgiving was always a time for reflection and contemplation of what he is thankful for. He taught me that while we should do this every day, we have a holiday to remind us of how lucky and fortunate we are.
In the tradition of what I would do regularly, and what my kids are doing this week, I am going to post this and see what you do with it…
In our NLP Master Practitioner Training we talk about values. We teach you how to do a Values Elicitation. Well, this week I would like you to do a Values Elicitation. But rather than doing this in one area of life, please do it for life in general.
For those of you that don’t know about this, let me explain. Ask yourself, “What is important about life?”
Ask yourself this and empty out your mind at least three times. Get every word and avoid any judgment about the word. Whatever comes up is perfect. What you are looking for is a short phrase or a single word. For example, in career my top value is integrity. That is an example of a value. (If you want to know more, we have a great NLP training and CD set on this.)
When doing this for life in general, we are finding our values for living and/or what we treasure in life. I don’t want to give any examples because I don’t want to lead you. I want you to have your own list. And, some simple examples are the major areas of life: Family, friends, relationship, career, health and fitness, spirituality, etc.
Once you have the list, prioritize it. What is the most important? What is the 2nd most important? And so on. This is not a scientific issue. This is personal, so be honest. What is the most important? Again, accept what the answer is.
Finally, re-write the list in the order of importance. Look at it for a while and see if it is a reflection of what you find to be important. Notice what you value in life. And then here is the big thing: Are you spending the appropriate amount of energy with the things that matter most?
You see, that is a big question. One of the things in my top 3 is family. And while I am here in NY, I am spending as much time as possible with them. That is why this blog is short and why you are only getting one this week. I feel good about my list, and I give my top 5 appropriate energy. Do you?
Maybe a New Year’s Resolution that we start in November would be to start actually following what is important in life.
Let’s go over the steps again:
1. Ask yourself, “What is important about life?”
2. Empty out at least 3 times.
3. Prioritize the list.
4. Re-write the list and put it in digital form to always have with you.
5. Analyze if you are actually putting energy into what is important.
One last thing to keep in mind is that when I first did this, they all seemed important and I wanted to say, “They are all number 1.” However, I knew that was not the case, and I would just be avoiding actually putting in place what really matters. For the most part, something is going to be more important. It doesn’t mean the others are not. There is just going to be a natural hierarchy.
Have fun with this, and have a wonderful weekend! Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Mahalo,
Dr. Matt
P.S.
As our way of saying thank you, all of our products are 20% off this holiday season!
