This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "High Performance Habits" by Brendon Burchard. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Are you feeling stuck and aren’t sure what to do with your life? How do you identify your values and find clarity about who you are and what you want?
In his book High Performance Habits, Brendon Burchard talks about the role of having clearly-defined values in one’s sense of fulfillment. He puts special emphasis on identifying your values in four domains of life: self, social, skills, and service.
Keep reading for Brendon Burchard’s advice on how to identify your values.
How to Identify Your Values
To find fulfillment, you need to identify your values in four domains of your life: self, social, skills, and service.
Self: Identify your values and the goals that you’re striving towards. Once you know these things, imagine the perfect future version of yourself and begin to implement characteristics from that image into your daily life. Hold yourself accountable by reminding yourself of the future that you want.
Social: Get clear on the relationships you want to foster, and how you want to come across to your friends, family, and colleagues. Think about your daily interactions. Are you present and in-the-moment, or are you on autopilot? Are you concerned about how you’re treating the other person, or are you too caught up in your own ideas?
Skills: Identify the skills you need to develop in order to advance in your field. Be specific and schedule time to develop these skills. If you’re too vague about the areas you need to improve on, you won’t be able to focus on the most essential areas of improvement.
Service: Think about what matters to people around you and prioritize your work accordingly. Go above and beyond and deliver a service that exceeds expectations.
The Benefits of Clarity on Values
- Self-Esteem. People with high levels of clarity tend to have high self-esteem because they understand their values and know what brings them fulfillment. In contrast, people with low levels of clarity tend to have low self-esteem because they are not clear about what they want and what drives them forward.
- Motivation. People with high levels of clarity tend to be more motivated because they have a clear goal they’re working towards, and they’re passionate about their objectives. In contrast, people with low levels of clarity lack motivation because there is nothing that inspires them to go above and beyond.
- Confidence. People with high levels of clarity tend to be more confident because they know the values that drive them and have a clear, actionable goal. People with low levels of clarity tend to be less confident because they don’t they don’t have a guiding purpose to strive towards.
- Productivity. People with high levels of clarity tend to be more productive because their work aligns with their values. People with low levels of clarity tend to be less productive because they find their work annoying or boring, because it doesn’t feed into some larger goal.
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Here's what you'll find in our full High Performance Habits summary :
- The 6 habits that high performers have
- How being a high performer is about more than one big achievement
- The 3 traps that can foil you, even if you're a high performer
