Lead Like You

CHAPTER 11Finding our authentic values and purpose

Stopping to get clear on my values and purpose changed everything for me. I had always felt incredibly passionate about supporting women to live a life true to themselves, in hindsight probably because I wanted that so deeply for myself. They say we teach what we need to learn! But as I got clearer on my values and my sense of purpose, I felt a stronger call within me to start living in more alignment with myself. It makes so much sense in hindsight. I had been living my life true to other people's values. I had been looking outside of myself for my purpose, success and validation.

Our values drive a lot of our decisions in life. We don't receive a list of values at birth, we pick them up as we move through our life learning social norms and noticing which behaviours are acceptable and which are not. In our homes and families, at school, from the media and other environments, we learn what others think is important, which often then becomes the source of our beliefs and rules, and we attribute them to our values.

But are these values true to who we are today? Do they reflect what we hold as important and meaningful in our life now?

These are questions many of us don't stop to ask — and rarely answer. It can be difficult to figure out what we believe independent of everything we've been taught, what really matters to us and who we want to be.

To live and lead true to ourselves, it's important to reflect on and clarify our values ...