Review: Set Yourself up for Success by Determining Your Core Values
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 13, 2012
I'm a great believer in systems. (In fact, I can bore the socks off people by proclaiming loudly, "You've got to have a system!" when they talk about what they want to achieve.) So in a way, Katie Darden was preaching to the converted, but I'm a sucker for books like this: I always like to see what someone new has to say. When I saw that this book was part of a series, I decided to download Book 1 first and see if it motivated me to get the next two.Well, it has, and I'll tell you why. First, you CAN use this book as a stand-alone. I'm never keen on books that require you to buy all the rest in a series before you can use the information, but this one is a useful product on its own. It quickly becomes obvious why determining your core values is necessary so you can actually ACHIEVE the goals you set. I also liked the fact that the author emphasizes that while this book - and the other two in the series - grew out of an online program, you DON'T need all the audio and video modules online to make this work for you. You can just use a journal to get the same results. That earned a big tick: we can all find a notepad and pen. Then the author earned another tick for having a link to a resources section online, where you can download a set of worksheets.Now for the content. What does this book do for you? First it explains just WHY it's important for the goals we set to be in alignment with our values. It makes sense that our deepest beliefs should drive our goals, which therefore gives us a much higher likelihood of success.If you're like me, you tend to put off stuff that sounds like 'work', even if it's good for you. (We're all procrastinators at heart.) Katie Darden makes the process of determining your core values much easier by providing the reader with a series of questions. Like most people, I usually find it easier to answer questions than to sit down and think of what to write unaided. There's a clear explanation of how to sort through the answers and identify your values, using the worksheets provided online. The 'Step 1, Step 2, Step 3' approach makes it a simple process (there are 9 steps in all). The sample list of values that you can refer to for ideas helps, too.The next section takes you through how you can rank your priorities, and once that's done you can take a look at your life and determine whether you're achieving or validating them your values. That can be a real eye-opener - many people have no idea that they're sabotaging themselves on a daily basis through their words and actions.Once you've been through this process, you are invited to rewrite your 'rules' to make them more realistic. I've noticed in the past (I've worked in both schools and the corporate environment) that many people will set goals and then rush headlong into achieving them without ever sitting back to think about whether they need revising. In my experience, MOST goals - and sometimes mission statements or values - need revising. I'm glad to see that this was addressed in the book.Following on from this, there's a chapter about designing values that support YOU, including a section on thinking about whether the value actually 'belongs' to you, or was imposed by someone else. Then you're guided into an understanding of how your values can be used to support you and your decisions, and what to do if you see a conflict.All in all, this is a well-written and practical guide to determining the core values that are such a necessary underpinning of any goals you set. It is very clear why this needs to be the foundation of goal-setting.Highly recommended, and I'll certainly be buying the other two books in the series.