We are continually being floored over here by the dedication of the peeps in the Inner Circle. Going at this wholeheartedly! Loving it.

This week’s call was all about values – what they are, how to find them, and how they can help us do what we wanna do in life. Getting to the root of them takes some deep work, and the people who spoke up and shared on the call showed the kinda breakthroughs and connections that take place when we’re prepared to go all in. (Thanks so much for sharing, guys!)

If you weren’t on the call live, you can get all the goodness from the MP3 recording.

Here’s a rundown of some of our favorite talking points from the call.

Talking Point #1: When we know our values, everything else gets easier

Figuring out our values isn’t just some esoteric exercise that we do for the fun of it; when we get awareness around what’s important to us, it makes decision-making in the rest of our lives that much more simple. When we’re stuck at a crossroads, we can see which choice would be most aligned with our values and then go for it. We don’t need to have it all figured out, but making the right decision *for us* in one moment helps us work out what the right decision will be in the next. Baby steps :o)

Knowing our values also helps us work out what’s off whenever we’re having a bad day. Maybe connection’s a strong value of ours. When something’s off but we’re not sure what’s up, we can take a look at whether we’ve connected authentically that day or not. Then we get a big clue about what we can do to turn the day around.

Talking Point #2: Get ready to connect the dots

The questions we posted as part of last week’s HW are awesome for helping us figure out what our values are. When we answer them, we get to zoom out and look at our lives from a wider perspective. This helps us to spot any recurring themes and link them together to work out the common values.

One of the questions in particular is fantastic for illuminating what’s important to us, although it might not seem like it on the surface:

• Think about the people you admire. What are the five qualities that make you admire them?

The reason we admire the people we do is that we value a trait they embody. Whether it’s authenticity, playfulness, creativity, or something else, the thing we admire about them is the thing we wanna foster in our own lives. On that same note, when something bothers us about someone else, that shows us what we *don’t* value (and depending on our level of irritation, it might also highlight something similar we’re doing in our *own* lives that we’re subconsciously not happy about!).

Talking Point #3: The process doesn’t have to be ‘perfect’

If you’re struggling to figure out what your values are, don’t sweat it. There’s no need to strive for perfection or worry about doing it ‘right.’ Also? No need to worry what anyone else might think; our values are for *us.* We don’t need to explain them to anyone.

A good switch to make is to go from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. When we look at things from a fixed mindset, we assume that things are the way they are, we can’t change them, and we can’t change ourselves. If we tell ourselves the story that this has to be perfect or we come at the figuring-out process without being open to what we might discover, it’s gonna be more difficult. It’s easier to come at this from a growth mindset, which means we’re confident that we can grow and improve, and we’re open-minded about discovery and change.

Basically, let’s cut ourselves some slack and embrace the journey :o)

Peep This Too

Social psychologist and WTF interviewee Heidi Grant Halvorson talks about the fixed mindset vs. the growth mindset in her book, Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals. She also touched on it in our WTF chat: The Science of Success & Happiness.

Brené Brown has some awesome insights to share about the pursuit of perfection in her book, Daring Greatly.

HW + Action Steps!

What did you get from the call yesterday? Any new insights or favorite takeaways? We’d love to hear about them in the Facebook group! :o)

And if you wanna connect with other peeps from the Inner Circle, the hashtag to use on Twitter is #Sensophy.