Your Values Give You The Anchor Advantage

Values are your anchor!

Unanchored, a boat drifts in the water. It’s pushed here and there by the current other boats create as they move through the water. Ocean currents have the same effect.

Left unanchored, the people around you and the trends of life lead to you aimlessly drifting through life.

There was a season when my husband and I enjoyed breakfast on Saturday mornings out on the lake. Taking the boat out to a peaceful cove was our respite in the week and a chance to catch up. It was an amazing way to start a Saturday.

While anchored, we would enjoy the sunshine while reading books, brainstorming, or dreaming together. There were even a few occasions when we held our weekly business meeting out there.

Pleasant lake moments like that were only possible when the boat was anchored. Then we were able to relax knowing that the boat would only drift to the extent that the anchor allowed it to.

Without anchoring, the boat it was in danger of drifting into the shallow waters around the cove where plants and debris might damage the prop and result in expensive boat repairs.

Anchors also provide peace and safety during storms as well, especially in larger bodies of water than our nearby lake. Some even recommend diving down and inspecting your anchor to be certain it’s secure.

If you’ve never been boating, you may not realize that anchoring is more than tossing an anchor overboard. Anchoring is an art! And there’s nothing worse than having an inadequate anchor for your boat. The dragging that results from wimpy anchors leads to anxiety for even the most experienced boaters.

Having an anchor on board is not what provides peace and safety. What provides peace and safety is using the anchor correctly when it is needed.

Your Anchor

Just like a boat anchor, your values keep you from drifting from where you want to be in your life. They also help you avoid harmful situations, enable you to be more decisive, and navigate life with greater clarity. Your values provide direction, clarify what’s important to you, and offer helpful insights around the boundaries needed to protect your values.

Getting Clear

Having clarity around your Top 5 Values makes a positive difference both personally and professionally!

Your values are what is of the greatest importance to you. Knowing what your values are should be easy, and yet that’s not always the case. In fact, because your values are so much a part of you it’s often a process to tease them out.

I know for myself, my values have shifted a bit as they have become clearer. I identified my Top 5 Values for the first time about twelve years ago, but over time I’ve revised my Top 5 Values as I’ve realized what’s most important to me. At the heart, my values are essentially the same, just expressed more succinctly. See for yourself…

My 2013 Version of my Top 5 Values:

1. 1. 1. Relationships (God, Family, & Friends)
      2. Communication
      3. Health
      4. Learning
      5. Solitude

Today my Top 5 Values are:

1. 1. 1. Relationships (God, Family, & Friends)
      2. Communication
      3. Stewardship (This encompasses so much for me! Health, self-care, taking care of all that God has provided – money, things, talents, etc., how I use my time, and more! Stewardship better describes and encompasses so much more than what “Health and Learning” implied in my original set of values.)
      4. Creativity (This previously would have ranked #6 in my original values.)
      5. Practicality (Because this one was so much a part of me, I almost missed it!)

While you may not know what your Top 5 Values are today, you have values. Your values are unique to you. Even if someone else has similar values, you may not walk them out in the same way.

Being clear on what your Top 5 Values are is just the beginning! It’s like having an anchor on board.

Knowing how to apply your values requires skill. With that skill, you can operate with the “anchor advantage” and be less likely to be swept away by the whims or pressures of others.

Many of the “rubs” you experience in life are likely a clash of values.

What About Others?

It is not enough to identify and apply your values. It’s quite helpful to understanding the values of those you interact with closely too – your spouse, children, family members, friends, and coworkers.

Understanding the values that are driving others sheds light on where they are coming from and what’s important to them. When you have that information, you are then able to relate more effectively. That too is the “anchor advantage!”

Discovering your personal values is where it all starts! Here’s how you do that:

1. Ask!

The people who know you well have probably observed what’s important to you so ask them what values they have witnessed being wildly important to you.

Even more importantly, ask God to reveal your values to you. To make them stand out in ways that you can’t miss!

Your values aren’t meant to replace what is important to God. What’s important to Him will be important to you, but God has knit you together in a unique way so what is uniquely important to YOU?

2. Brainstorm

Take time to notice what upsets you, thrills you, or drives you. Odds are one of your values is involved. For example, one of my values is stewardship. My routine, habits, and choices are deeply influenced by this value. It dictates when I go to bed, how I start my day – time with God, exercise, the food I indulge in for breakfast, and much more.

Then make a list of the possibilities. Include on that list all potential candidates as you consider the following:

• • • What in your life is incredibly important to you?
    • What in your life frustrates you or excites you?
    • What are you willing to fight for? Die for? Work like crazy for?
    • What are you passionate about?

3. Review

With your list in hand, search for evidence in your life to support the possible values you’ve come up with. Cross off any of the potential values that lack evidence. Sometimes we wish for certain values, but if they are not actively being lived out. it’s probably not that important to you.

4. Eliminate

Now narrow your list down until you are left with just five values. Yes, five! That’s tough! The goal is to narrow down your values to five that are ultimately going to anchor you in your life and work.

5. Evaluate

Periodically, it’s helpful to evaluate whether your life is in alignment with your values.

So often the frustrations or pain points you experience are signs that you are not in alignment with your values. Those signs may show up in your any of these eight areas: Finances, Health/Physical Well Being, Work/Career, Emotions, Growth/Intellect, Fun/Relaxation, Spiritual Life, and Relationships.

Beyond Your Values

One of the happy perks to having clarity around your values and allowing them to anchor you is that you are then able to show up more authentically. That’s a good thing!

Once you are clear on your own values, consider clarifying your family, team, or organization values. Keep in mind that your personal values reflect you, and the values for a family, team, or organization will reflect the group or organization.

The process of narrowing down your values as a group is often an eye-opening one that allows you to get to know each other better. It may even explain some conflicts.

Determining values for a group involves multiple people so anticipate it taking a bit longer than it did to land on your personal Top 5 values. Be patient, ask great questions, and take the time to understand, as you all work towards a common goal.

Still Unsure?

Are you unsure of your personal values? Do you need some assistance in hashing out your values for your team or organization? Let’s partner together so you can experience the anchor advantage too!

How would the “Anchor Advantage” make a difference for you personally and/or professionally?

Download an exercise to help you identify your Top 5 Values HERE.

Originally posted on 1/15/2014, this post has been updated and revised just for you!