Your personal core values — what are they and why are they the key to your success?
Let me start with this:
If you are a salesperson who is struggling to explain to your clients the difference between your product and/or service…if you are a business trying to explain your unique selling proposition (USP), or simply trying to get that job offer when you are fighting the other candidates on the shortlist…
Then you need to understand that the real difference is YOU — you are unique, your DNA is unique, the way you think, the vision you have, and the values you possess are specifically unique to you.
It has never been more important to make sure that whatever you do, people need to understand the “who” part of who they are dealing with.
You need to become the CEO of YOU, which is the greatest corporation of all and you don’t have to be an entrepreneur or businessman — you could simply become the best at your job and then enjoy the best career you can.
And you need to start out right now, wherever you are in life and whatever you are doing or intend to do.
Related:
Linchpin: How to become a linchpin at work and be the best employee.
What Are Your Personal Core Values
Now, please understand that I am simply conveying my beliefs here and of course, they may not be yours…but let me try to explain how they came about.
When I had my first child at the tender age of forty, I had no idea how to raise a child — nobody does and that is why we largely have to figure it out ourselves.
Sure, we have our parents to help us, if we are lucky….but in my case, it wasn’t an option as they divorced when I was young, and with my mother having to go to work, I was raised by my grandparents, who were long gone by the time I was to experience being a father.
There are some advantages when you have a child later in life and they are mainly that you have lived more of your life and the experiences, good and bad, that are involved.
In my case, I had the luxury of being able to spend time with my daughter and observe her behavior and largely the experiences that I now know to be precious in life.
Psychic Ability?
I was amazed at how my daughter would simply laugh in her sleep — what was going on in her head and gradually as she learned to talk, she would start to say things that made no sense at all.
She would say things to her mother about her grandmother, who, of course, she could never have met…and talk about things that would make us believe she had some kind of psychic ability.
But it was when total strangers came into the house and how she reacted, that really took me aback.
She would run into the arms of some…and run away from others and, nobody could have taught her.
Clearly, there was something innate that was powering those thoughts and actions and this is where we get into the age-old psychology debate — nature versus nurture.
A Child’s Core Values
Children are magical — they possess naturally, all of the qualities we would all love to have later on in life and try desperately to convey to the world when we are looking for our next job, that university place, or simply to try to develop to make us better people:
- Instinct
- Creativity
- Boldness
- Persistence
- Integrity
- Ambition
Just to touch on a few.
And they make no effort to evidence them — they display them naturally and are not scared of showing them to any audience who will listen.
So, as a child, you had all of these qualities (and you still have them today), but you probably have lost the core connection with them.
Think about this — you probably had no fear in trying to negotiate that chocolate bar just before dinner and you would happily play the “Mom against Dad” game to get it.
You would use every emotion to negotiate that chocolate bar deal — and the word “persistence” was never known to you at the time.
You had integrity simply because you could have only acted in a way that you were taught — even if you were doing all the “wrong” things and were acting in a “wrong” manner, you would never have known any better.
I’ve covered instinct using my daughter and although it’s just one example, it is a very strong one and when we come to boldness, ambition, and other qualities that I haven’t included in this core list, they follow naturally simply because as a child, you are naturally trying to develop yourself.
So What Went Wrong?
Those wise old adults got in the way and shut you down!
Now, I am not saying that your parents, schoolteachers, and other influential adults deliberately set out to shut you down and de-rail your progress, it’s just that they were unaware of the dangers of “growing up” and the consequences of what that means to be a child who has to move from the world of free-thinking and free actions, to one of structure, rules, and regulations.
If you are a parent, think about, and as an example when you try, with your absolute best interests to push your child into a deeply academic career — you want your child to succeed, you have researched the market and you are so confident that your child, with your guidance and extra education, will succeed.
There is nothing wrong with that.
But, something has to give — those children later on in life may become very successful in their field, but they are struggling with one area that could end up haunting them — self-belief.
It’s also not that you or anyone else for that matter have willfully tried to sabotage their self -belief — it’s more the fact that the quality has been overlooked or sacrificed for the acquisition of knowledge to pursue a subject and career.
Over the years, I have worked with many seriously academic people — many were absolutely brilliant in their fields, but most of them struggled to clearly articulate their core values — those same ones that they once effortlessly expressed in their childhood.
To give you an example, I was working with a very talented high-tech engineer, who simply could not get the job that he desperately wanted in his career — although academically, he was streets ahead of his competitors, he simply could not answer confidently those questions that were aimed more about him as a person, rather than his academic education and work achievements.
By taking him back to the early part of his life, we were able to uncover some of those precious childhood moments where he had total self-belief and make them the focal point of our discussions.
After a while, the focus was more balanced and he was able to bring his personality to the mix, as well as his outstanding academic and work performance.
“People hire you for what you know and fire you for who you are.”
Remember the above statement and as a person who has worked in the recruitment and staffing services for over thirty years, I can tell you it is true.
Make sure you can articulate exactly “who you are,” so it is in sync with what you do!
Reconnect With Your Personal Core Values
Now it’s time to re-connect.
It’s time to take a look at your childhood memories and remember that you were once a fearless, bold child who operated instinctively, who would have all of the qualities that the best salespeople demonstrate, that entrepreneurs display in abundance, and the best in every field bar none, do in the same manner.
Re-connecting allows you to quash your fears and inhibitions.
It allows you to face and break through barriers.
You will be able to grow yourself and your business effortlessly.
And a whole lot more.
How To Reconnect
You have to do a brutal self-audit.
You need to write down and from your own perspective, exactly what your fears are and why you think you are being held back from reaching your true potential.
Everyone has fears by the way and be wary of anyone who tells you differently.
And everyone wants to improve — again, be wary of those who say they don’t!
For me, I listed my strengths and weaknesses — I did this when I had a quiet moment and some dutch courage to help…but I was brutal.
Then, I went back to the earliest and happiest memories of my childhood and re-lived them.
Those wonderful moments when I could express myself without fear when I could be creative without being judged (you know that when you did a drawing as a child, everyone told you how fantastic it was, no matter how it looked).
You see, you simply didn’t care about the outcome of anything you did as a young child and you also had no concept of failure…that I am afraid, was taught to you.
And when you focus on the good memories, you will do so with a smile and the next thing to understand is that there is no such thing as failure — you are simply going through the learning process because everything is about learning.
I came out of this experience with the view that I had absolutely nothing to lose by uncovering my true self and then displaying that to the world in whatever manner I chose — the worst thing that could happen is that I would be rejected by some, but in a world of several billion people, I was likely to connect with a handful of like-minded souls.
You should feel the same.
Putting Them Into Action
You’ve hopefully understood the concept and you have also done a bit of self-evaluation and realization, so now what?
It’s time to tell the world.
The first thing you need to do is to build your own personal brand and in the link, I have given you some tips to get you started.
If you want to get online, then contact my friend Fernando Raymond who is just as, if not more passionate about everybody getting online than I am!
By the way, I receive no commissions from Fernando and I recommend him because he has the personal core qualities that I am advocating.
So what about the content?
Evidence
You have all of these key and core qualities and you have done a lot of self-realization, but now you have to put each quality into context and that means relating them to what you have done.
If you are going to talk about integrity, then demonstrate how you have used the quality.
If you are going to talk about instinct, then explain situations where you have relied upon it.
If you are talking about leadership, then you must show not only how you demonstrated it, but the steps you took to gain the trust of your team.
Do the same with everything else and I would also make sure your website is a personal blog, where you can showcase the real “you” to the world.
Conclusion
You must uncover those key core personal values that you were born with.
Unless you are going to re-invent the wheel, then the only real unique thing you have in this world is you.
It’s not just about your personal values, it’s about the way you think, the way you act, and your vision.
Nobody is content with the “now” and that is why everyone is on a journey of self-discovery and improvement whether they like it or not.
It’s human nature.
What you absolutely must realize is that there is one corporation or enterprise that is the most important corporation of all and that is the enterprise of YOU.
You must be the CEO of YOU!
Neil
If you are struggling with ideas to start a business, grow your existing business, or solve your most challenging business problems then get in touch with me and leverage my forty years of business and entrepreneurship expertise.
My services are intense, results-driven, born out of my practical experience, and affordable to all.
neiljcfranklin@gmail.com
Neil Franklin
Entrepreneurship Personal Branding Personal Development
Last modified: June 30, 2022
