Stephen Covey once said, “Be sure that, as you scramble up the ladder of success, it is leaning against the right building.” Carly Simon once sang a famous line, “Is this all there is?” Many people work hard on the outside to achieve goals that they think they want, only to find, at the end of the day, that they get no joy or satisfaction from their accomplishments. This occurs when the outer accomplishment is not in harmony with your inner values. Don’t let this happen to you.
Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” This applies to your values as much as to any other area of your life. Values clarification is something you do on a “go-forward” basis. You continually stop the clock, like a time out in a football game, and ask, “What are my values in this area?”
In the Bible it says, “What does it benefit a man if he achieves the whole world but loses his own soul?” The happiest people in the world today are those who are living in harmony with their innermost convictions and values. The unhappiest people are those who are attempting to live incongruent with what they truly value and believe.