How would you define your values?

Your values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live and work.

They (should) determine your priorities, and, deep down, they're probably the measures you use to tell if your life is turning out the way you want it to.

When the things that you do and the way you behave match your values, life is usually good you're satisfied and content. But when these don't align with your values, that's when things feel... wrong. This can be a real source of unhappiness.

This is why making a conscious effort to identify your values is so important.

How Values Help You

Values exist, whether you recognize them or not. Life can be much easier when you acknowledge your values and when you make plans and decisions that honor them.

If you value family, but you have to work 70-hour weeks in your job, will you feel internal stress and conflict? And if you don't value competition, and you work in a highly competitive sales environment, are you likely to be satisfied with your job?

In these types of situations, understanding your values can really help. When you know your own values, you can use them to make decisions about how to live your life, and you can answer questions like these:

What job should I pursue?

Should I accept this promotion?

Should I start my own business?

Should I compromise, or be firm with my position?

Should I follow tradition, or travel down a new path?

So, take the time to understand the real priorities in your life, and you'll be able to determine the best direction for you and yourlife goals!

Tip:

Values are usually fairly stable, yet they don't have strict limits or boundaries. Also, as you move through life, your values may change. For example, when you start your career, success measured by money and status might be a top priority. But after you have a family, work-life balance may be what you value more.

As your definition of success changes, so do your personal values. This is why keeping in touch with your values is a lifelong exercise. You should continuously revisit this, especially if you start to feel unbalanced... and you can't quite figure out why.

As you go through the exercise below, bear in mind that values that were important in the past may not be relevant now.

Defining Your Values

When you define your personal values, you discover what's truly important to you. A good way of starting to do this is to look back on your life to identify when you felt really good, and really confident that you were making good choices.

Step 1: Identify the times when you were happiest

Find examples from both your career and personal life. This will ensure some balance in your answers.

What were you doing?

Were you with other people? Who?

What other factors contributed to your happiness?

Step 2: Identify the times when you were most proud

Use examples from your career and personal life.

Why were you proud?

Did other people share your pride? Who?

What other factors contributed to your feelings of pride?

Step 3: Identify the times when you were most fulfilled and satisfied

Again, use both work and personal examples.

What need or desire was fulfilled?

How and why did the experience give your life meaning?

What other factors contributed to your feelings of fulfillment?

Step 4: Determine your top values, based on your experiences of happiness, pride, and fulfillment

Step 5: Prioritize your top values

This step is probably the most difficult, because you'll have to look deep inside yourself. It's also the most important step, because, when making a decision, you'll have to choose between solutions that may satisfy different values. This is when you must know which value is more important to you.

Step 6: Reaffirm your values

Check your top-priority values, and make sure they fit with your life and your vision for yourself.

Do these values make you feel good about yourself?

Are you proud of your top three values?

Would you be comfortable and proud to tell your values to people you respect and admire?

Do these values represent things you would support, even if your choice isn't popular, and it puts you in the minority?

Key Points

Identifying and understanding your values is a challenging and important exercise. Your personal values are a central part of who you are and who you want to be. By becoming more aware of these important factors in your life, you can use them as a guide to make the best choice in any situation.

Ethics, sometimes known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct.

The Benefits & Importance of Ethics in the Workplace

The Ethics Resource Center reports that non-unionized employees perceive stronger ethical cultures within their organizations than their unionized counterparts. The non-profit organization also reports that young workers are more likely to perceive weak ethical cultures within their companies than older ones. Managers also tend to value stronger ethical cultures than employees in non-management positions. It is your duty as a manager to incorporate and manage a strong ethical culture within your business. Workplace ethics are significant to your business and provide numerous benefits.

Asset Protection

A strong ethical culture within your business is important in safeguarding your assets. Employees who abide by your workplace ethics would be able to protect and respect your businesss assets. For example, they would avoid making personal long distance calls using the businesss lines. Workers can only respect company property when you treat them with respect and dignity, which makes them feel proud to be working for your business. Ensure that your workers perform in an environment with integrity and strong ethics. It increases employee pride and discourages them from stealing supplies or equipment.

Productivity and Teamwork

Workplace ethics is integral in fostering increased productivity and teamwork among your employees. It helps in aligning the values of your business with those of your workers. Achieving this alignment requires that you encourage consistent dialogue regarding the values of your business, which enhances community, integrity and openness among employees. Ethics enable your workers to feel a strong alignment between their values and those of your business. They show such feelings through increased productivity and motivation.

Public Image

You earn a lot of respect and cultivate a strong image in the public domain when you make ethical choices. For instance, you can fulfill your corporate social responsibility by reducing waste discharge from your business. The public would consider your business to be operating with honor and integrity while valuing people over profits. Building a strong public image through ethical conduct also earns you more clients. Customers would develop trust in you and do business with your organization.

Decision-Making

Ethical conduct in the workplace encourages a culture of making decisions based on ethics. It also enhances accountability and transparency when undertaking any business decisions. During turbulent times, a strong ethical culture guides you in managing such conflicts by making the right moves. It can help you to introduce change successfully in your organization, which can be a challenge. Ethical conduct within the business sensitizes you and your staff on how to act consistently even in difficult times.

Ethics vs ValuesEvery person has certain setvaluesand a certain code ofethicswhich are very much valued. Some people who do not know the exact difference between values and ethics often use the two words interchangeably. Though these two are different, these two together form the basis for making decisions.

What are values? They are the basicbeliefsthat an individual thinks to be true. Every individual has a set of values through which he looks at all things and also at the world. It can be said that most of the people will never deviate from their values. The values can be said to be the guiding principles in ones life. Value can be defined as a bridge by which an individual makes a decision regarding good and bad, right or wrong, and most important or less important.

Ethics is guidelines or rules that are set for a society or an organization rather than for an individual. Ethics can be defined as a set of rules formulated by acountryor a company or some institutions. Ethics is mainly based on moral values.

Values are very much personal while ethics is very much societal. One can also see that values and ethics sometimes can be in conflict. Even if one has certain values, he will not be able to entertain certain decisions based on the ethical codes. Though abortion is considered to be legal, most people do not approve of it morally.

ResilientResilient people are those who face setbacks but ultimately, with perseverance, recover from them. Try and be strong and face lifes difficulties as challenges; respond accordingly with action, rather than with fear, self-pity, inferiority or blame. While life can be very challenging, an important step in becoming more resilient is to develop the habit of positive self talkand to remind yourself that you are strong and can grow stronger and wiser as you handle lifes challenges.

Ten Ways to Become More Resilient

1. Build Positive Beliefs in Your Abilities

2. Find a Sense of Purpose in Your Life

3. Develop a Strong Social Network

4. Embrace Change

5. Be Optimistic

6. Nurture Yourself

7. Develop Your Problem-Solving Skills

8. Establish Goals

9. Take Steps to Solve Problems

10. Keep Working on Your Skills

Making Ethical Decisions: A 7-Step Path

Making ethical choices requires the ability to make distinctions between competing options. Here are seven steps to help you make better decisions:

1. Stop and think: This provides several benefits. It prevents rash decisions, prepares us for more thoughtful discernment, and can allow us to mobilize our discipline.

2. Clarify goals: Before you choose, clarify your short-term and long-term aims. Determine which of your many wants and "don't wants" affected by the decision are the most important. The big danger is that decisions that fullfill immediate wants and needs can prevent the achievement of our more important life goals.

3. Determine facts: Be sure you have adequate information to support an intelligent choice. To determine the facts, first resolve what you know, then what you need to know. Be prepared for additional information and to verify assumptions and other uncertain information. In addition:

Consider the reliability and credibility of the people providing the facts.

Consider the basis of the supposed facts. If the person giving you the information says he or she personally heard or saw something, evaluate that person in terms of honesty, accuracy, and memory.

4. Develop options: Once you know what you want to achieve and have made your best judgment as to the relevant facts, make a list of actions you can take to accomplish your goals. If it's an especially important decision, talk to someone you trust so you can broaden your perspective and think of new choices. If you can think of only one or two choices, you're probably not thinking hard enough.

5. Consider consequences: Filter your choices to determine if any of your options will violate any core ethical values, and then eliminate any unethical options. Identify who will be affected by the decision and how the decision is likely to affect them.

6. Choose: Make a decision. If the choice is not immediately clear, try:

Talking to people whose judgment you respect.

Think of a person of strong character that you know or know of, and ask your self what they would do in your situation.

If everyone found out about your decision, would you be proud and comfortable?

Follow the Golden Rule: treat others the way you want to be treated, and keep your promises.

7. Monitor and modify: Ethical decision-makers monitor the effects of their choices. If they are not producing the intended results, or are causing additional unintended and undesirable results, they re-assess the situation and make new decisions.

8. Five Characteristics of a Good Work Ethic

While some individuals try to get by doing as little work as possible, others possess a dedication that leads them to give it their all every day. People who possess a strong work ethic embody certain principles that guide their work behavior, leading them to produce high-quality work consistently and without the prodding that some individuals require to stay on track.

Reliability

Reliability goes hand in hand with a good work ethic. If individuals with a good work ethic say they are going to attend a work function or arrive at a certain time, they do, as they value punctuality. Individuals with a strong work ethic often want to appear dependable, showing their employers that they are workers to whom they can turn. Because of this, they put effort into portraying -- and proving -- this dependability by being reliable and performing consistently.

Dedication

Those with a good work ethic are dedicated to their jobs and will do anything they can to ensure that they perform well. Often this dedication leads them to change jobs less frequently, as they become committed to the positions in which they work and are not eager to abandon these posts. They also often put in extra hours beyond what is expected, making it easy for their employers to see that they are workers who go beyond the rest of the workforce and truly dedicate themselves to their positions.

Productivity

Because they work at a consistently fast pace, individuals with a good work ethic are often highly productive. They commonly get large amounts of work done more quickly than others who lack their work ethic, as they don't quit until they've completed the tasks with which they were presented. This high level of productivity is also due, at least in part, to the fact that these individuals want to appear to be strong workers. The more productive they are, the more beneficial to the company they appear to those managing them.

Cooperation

Cooperative work can be highly beneficial in the business environment, something that individuals with a strong work ethic know well. Because they recognize the usefulness of cooperative practices -- such as teamwork -- they often put an extensive amount of effort into working well with others. These individuals commonly respect their bosses enough to work with any individuals with whom they are paired in a productive and polite manner, even if they do not enjoy working with the individuals in question.

Character

Those with a good work ethic often also possess generally strong character. This means they are self-disciplined, pushing themselves to complete work tasks instead of requiring others to intervene. They are also often very honest and trustworthy, as they view these traits as befitting the high-quality employees they seek to become. To demonstrate their strong character, these workers embody these positive traits daily, likely distinguishing themselves from the rest.

Module 3:

The Resilience Scale (RS)

Please read the following statements. To the right of each you will find seven numbers, ranging from "1" (Strongly Disagree) on the left to "7" (Strongly Agree) on the right. Click the circle below the number which best indicates your feelings about that statement. For example, if you strongly disagree with a statement, click the circle below "1". If you are neutral, click "4", and if you strongly agree, click "7", etc. You must answer every question to submit the test for scoring.

StronglyDisagreeStronglyAgree

1. When I make plans, I follow through with them.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

2. I usually manage one way or another.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

3. I am able to depend on myself more than anyone else.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

4. Keeping interested in things is important to me.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

5. I can be on my own if I have to.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

6. I feel proud that I have accomplished things in life.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

7. I usually take things in stride.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8. I am friends with myself.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

9. I feel that I can handle many things at a time.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

10. I am determined.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

11. I seldom wonder what the point of it all is.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

12. I take things one day at a time.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

13. I can get through difficult times because I've experienced difficulty before.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

14. I have self-discipline.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

15. I keep interested in things.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

16. I can usually find something to laugh about.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

17. My belief in myself gets me through hard times.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

18. In an emergency, I'm someone people can generally rely on.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

19. I can usually look at a situation in a number of ways.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

20. Sometimes I make myself do things whether I want to or not.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

21. My life has meaning.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

22. I do not dwell on things that I can't do anything about.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

23. When I'm in a difficult situation, I can usually find my way out of it.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

24. I have enough energy to do what I have to do.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

25. It's okay if there are people who don't like me.1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1987 Gail M. Wagnild & Heather M. Young. Used by permission. All rights reserved. "The Resilience Scale" is an international trademark of Gail M. Wagnild & Heather M. Young.

Scores Interpretation

Very Low 25-130

Your resilience level is very low but this doesnt mean you have zero resilience. Everyone is resilient to some degree. Others with your score have reported high levels of depression, anxiety, unmanaged stress, lack of self-confidence and much discouragement. You can strengthen your resilience and doing so will make a significant and positive change in your life. There are many articles on this website that may help so check back frequently for more helpful information.Mod High 131-160Your resilience level is moderate; neither high nor low. You have many characteristics of resilience and can build on those to keep strengthening your resilience. Others with your score have reported dissatisfaction and a sense of imbalance in some areas of their life while other areas are good. You can strengthen your resilience and doing so will make a significant and positive change in your life. There are many articles on this website that may help so check back frequently for more helpful information.Very High 161-175

Your resilience level is high, which means that you are doing very well in almost all aspects of resilience. Others with your score report that they are rarely if ever depressed or anxious about their lives. Stress is manageable. Anxiety is low. Life is good. You will want to keep your resilience strong; it takes practice. There are many articles on this Website that may help so check back frequently for more helpful information.Activity:

50 Questions for Self-Exploration

When You Know Yourself You Are Empowered. When You Accept Yourself You Are Invincible.Asking yourself questions is a great way to move into self-discoveryand personal growth. As we grow and change, our answers will too.There are endless questions to choose from. Here are some to help you get started. It may help to pick just one and journal about it.

1. What do I like about myself?

2. What would I like to change about myself?

3. Am I more positive or negative in my speech?

4. What am I grateful for? Do I express my thankfulness?

5. What are qualities of a good listener?Do I have these qualities?

6. Who inspires me? What qualities do these people have?

7. Do I see my relationships as successful? Why or why not?

8. Am I open-minded? Judgmental?

9. What do I fear? How can I overcome my fear(s)?

10. Name some of the closest people to you. How do they affect you?

11. What do I really want to do? Am I doing that?

12. Am I physicallyhealthy? In what ways am I healthy or unhealthy?

13. Am I emotionally healthy? How am I healthy or unhealthy?

14. Am I mentally healthy? In what ways am I healthy or unhealthy?

15. Am I spiritually healthy?In what ways am I healthy or unhealthy?

16. Do I laugh? Do I enjoy life? How can experience more enjoyment?

17. What do I believe about God?

18. What do I believe about death and life after death?

19. Does everything happen for a reason?

20. What am I proud of achieving?

21. What is a positive memory that stands out from childhood?

22. What is apositive memory that stands out from adulthood?

23. What is a negative memory that stands out from childhood? What has it taught me about myself?

24. What is anegative memory that stands out from adulthood? What has it taught me?

25. Do I see myself as successful?

26. Do I like what I look like? Why? Why not?

27. What is something I am ashamed of? How can I deal with this?

28. Am I reliable? How so or not so?

29. Am I a good friend? How so or not so?

30. What do I regret? How can I deal with this?

31. How do I feel about money?

32. Am I a giver or a taker?

33. Do I care about what others are thinking about me?

34. Do I easily forgive or hold a grudge?

35. Do I speak up or go along with the crowd?

36. If I had unlimited funds what would I be doing?

37. If I had millions of dollars, how would I spend it?

38. If I only had 6 months to live, how would I spend my time?

39. What and who makes me happy?

40. What is something that I want to do but have not done?

41. Do I get things done or do I procrastinate or even give up?

42. Do I trust my intuition?

43. What are some important things I have learned in life?

44. What are my goals and dreams?

45. Where/how would I like to see myself in a year? 10 years?

46. What are my talents? Am I utilizing them? How can I use them more?

47. What was the hardest time of my life? How has that affected me?

48. Do I feel blessed? How and why or why not?

49. Do I live in the present moment? Live in the past? Future?

50. Is there something I am running from? Is it time to face it?

Oxford Happiness Questionnaire

The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire was developed by psychologists Michael Argyle and Peter Hills at Oxford University. Take a few moments to take the survey. This is a good way to get a snapshot of your current level of happiness. You can even use your score to compare to your happiness level at some point in the future by taking the survey again.

InstructionsBelow are a number of statements about happiness. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with each by entering a number in the blank after each statement, according to the following scale:

1 = strongly disagree2 = moderately disagree3 = slightly disagree4 = slightly agree5 = moderately agree6 = strongly agree

Please read the statements carefully, because some are phrased positively and others negatively. Dont take too long over individual questions; there are no right or wrong answers (and no trick questions). The first answer that comes into your head is probably the right one for you. If you find some of the questions difficult, please give the answer that is true for you in general or for most of the time.

The Questionnaire1. I dont feel particularly pleased with the way I am. (R) _____

2. I am intensely interested in other people. _____

3. I feel that life is very rewarding. _____

4. I have very warm feelings towards almost everyone. _____

5. I rarely wake up feeling rested. (R) _____

6. I am not particularly optimistic about the future. (R) _____

7. I find most things amusing. _____

8. I am always committed and involved. _____

9. Life is good. _____

10. I do not think that the world is a good place. (R) _____

11. I laugh a lot. _____

12. I am well satisfied about everything in my life. _____

13. I dont think I look attractive. (R) _____

14. There is a gap between what I would like to do and what I have done. (R)_____

15. I am very happy. _____

16. I find beauty in some things. _____

17. I always have a cheerful effect on others. _____

18. I can fit in (find time for) everything I want to. _____

19. I feel that I am not especially in control of my life. (R) _____

20. I feel able to take anything on. _____

21. I feel fully mentally alert. _____

22. I often experience joy and elation. _____

23. I dont find it easy to make decisions. (R) _____

24. I dont have a particular sense of meaning and purpose in my life. (R)_____

25. I feel I have a great deal of energy. _____

26. I usually have a good influence on events. _____

27. I dont have fun with other people. (R) _____

28. I dont feel particularly healthy. (R) _____

29. I dont have particularly happy memories of the past. (R) _____

Calculate your scoreStep 1. Items marked (R) should be scored in reverse:

If you gave yourself a 1, cross it out and change it to a 6.Change 2 to a 5Change 3 to a 4Change 4 to a 3Change 5 to a 2Change 6 to a 1

Step 2. Add the numbers for all 29 questions. (Use the converted numbers for the 12 items that are reverse scored.)

Step 3. Divide by 29. So your happiness score = the total (from step 2) divided by 29.

I recommend you record your score and the date. Then youll have the option to compare your score now with your score at a later date. This can be especially helpful if you are trying some of the exercises, and actively working on increasing your happiness.

UPDATE:A lot of people have been asking for some kind of interpretation of the raw number happiness score you get in step 3 above. What follows is just off the top of my head, but its based in part on the fact that the average person gets a score of about 4.

INTERPRETATION OF SCOREI suggest you read all the entries below regardless of what score you got, because I think theres valuable information here for everyone.1-2 : Not happy. If you answered honestly and got a very low score, youre probably 2-3 : Somewhat unhappy.seeing yourself and your situation as worse than it really is.

3-4 : Not particularly happy or unhappy. A score of 3.5 would be an exact numerical average of happy and unhappy responses.

: Somewhat happy or moderately happy. Satisfied. This is what the average person scores.

4-5 : Rather happy; pretty happy. Check other score ranges for some of my suggestions.

5-6 : Very happy. Being happy has more benefits than just feeling good. Its correlated with benefits like health, better marriages, and attaining your goals. Check back Ill be writing a post about this topic soon.

6 : Too happy. Yes, you read that right. Recent research seems to show that theres an optimal level of happiness for things like doing well at work or school, or for being healthy, and that being too happy may be associated with lower levels of such things._1486276802.unknown

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