Top 3 Ways to Realize Your Value

As I sit in the quiet with a cup of coffee this August morning, I’m pondering the next season. Yes, I know…I know…summer isn’t over yet, but students arrive on campus today and a new school year begins. As a college professor, everything about this time of year is focused on endings and beginnings. Summer is ‘over’ in all practical terms and I’ve spent days thinking about how to teach in a a world that is chaotic and unknown. But, as I sit this morning, I remember that ‘today’ is but a flash. How often we get mired in our thoughts, our lives, our work of today and forget that it is really a heartbeat in time. That there is far more coming in our lives…so much we don’t see, can’t know, and really aren’t we better off not knowing?

I remind myself of the idea that life is a journey … not a destination. And what I do on the journey, how I respond to myself, and how I treat others is really my journey. For all the rest is baggage we carry around with us. Meaning comes from within us…it’s there…do we see it, nurture it, listen to it? I love quiet mornings because they bring quiet, thoughtfulness, and calmness before the craziness of life raises it’s hand for attention in the coming day. A decade ago, I didn’t have time for ‘the quiet morning’…today I remember the sign on my office wall, “She created a life she loves”. My journey started twelve years ago when I knew I needed to change my life to better suit me. In that pursuit, I did 3 simple things.

Know Yourself. I took time to really assess myself. I got to know myself in a new way.

• What do I enjoy doing?

• What is the best time of day for my work?

• How do I want to live?

• What is truly important to me?

• What work do I like and what do I dislike?

I spent time really exploring myself. You cannot serve the world unless you know your uniqueness and how you tick.

RELATED: What Self-Awareness Really is & How to Cultivate It. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/01/what-self-awareness-really-is-and-how-to-cultivate-it

Accept..and Expect..Your Value. Every day we interact with others in a way that provides value to them; we just don’t think of it in those terms. What do people come to you for? What do you share with others? I talked with everyone I could think of…and I asked this awkward question over and over...What did they see in me that was valuable? What did they appreciate in me. It was out of my comfort zone, but it provided me this opportunity to reinforce what I believed was my uniqueness as well as allowed me to get a broader view of what others’ recognized as my uniqueness.

RELATED: What is Self Worth & How Do We Increase It? Positive Psychology. https://positivepsychology.com/self-worth/

Do Something. This concept may seem too simple, yet people often ponder and talk about doing something for far too long before just doing it. Often, any action is better than no action…even if it’s not perfect. A friend told me to do 1 thing a day to move toward a new path. Interview for jobs you may not want; you’ll get better at interviewing. Talk to people in your past about what they appreciated about you; it will narrow your ideas. Try something new; it will change your way of thinking.

As you start to understand yourself, your value, and your worth better, action gets easier. Think of it as an experimental lab…with the goal to clear your path to a meaningful future.

Let me help you clarify your unique purpose and find a more meaningful life and work. For a free 15 minute consultation, sign up here. If you’re ready to follow my unique 5-step process toward a meaningful life, sign up here