Jun 29 2009
What Are Your Core Values?
Years ago my dad called all of his kids together and shared the Franklin-Covey system of planning with us. He asked us to write out our core values, then write out our dreams (building these on our values, not just pulling them out of thin air), our life goals, the plans we had to reach those goals, and the daily activities that would carry out those plans.
That’s a lot to ask of small children, and we were pretty bad at it. But the idea of planning and prioritizing our lives stuck with me and underlies much about the way I live now.
Last week Dad decided that it’s time to do it again, involving all of the kids who’ve been born since those long-ago days (plenty of them) and having us older ones review. I’m finding it challenging and helpful to write out what’s really important to me and the actions I want those values to lead to. I recommend trying it — if not going through the whole system, then at least writing out your core values. List them, describe them, and give an idea of what they look like in action.
It might be some of the most valuable writing you do 
.
That’s a very good idea.
[...] (On another topic, today I received a copy of Enclave by Karen Hancock for giveaway on this here blog. I’m kind of jealous because the copy I got for review was an Advanced Review Copy, which is really cool because it means I’m reading the book before most people but is less cool because ARCs don’t have the physical quality of “real” books. And I liked this one, so I’d like to own the real one. Too bad I can’t give the book away to myself, but that would not be acting with integrity, and integrity is one of my core values.) [...]