My daughter, Emerson, was sitting in her carseat in the back row of the van as we drove home from dinner one evening. She was four at the time. Discipline was not her strong suit that day, and as evening came she got more and more out of control. She was angry with me because […]
Negative Core Values & How You Can Change Them
There are two kinds of core values. Aspirational core values are the ones you wish you had, those idealized qualities you hope to develop one day. Authentic core values are the ones that you really have, the ones that already drive your decisions. (More on the distinction here.) Aspirational core values are inspiring. But […]
How to Use Your Core Values
Whether we’re talking about the corporate world or your personal life, lists of core values all suffer from the same weakness. They’re just words on a page. You may spend hours reflecting and carefully crafting your core values statement. But what happens once the words are chosen and sentences crafted? Do the words get stuck […]
How To Identify Your Real Core Values
You are who you are. If there’s a better you out there to become, it’s going to be found by traveling from where you are now to where you could be. That means knowing who you are now matters. This is the purpose of identifying your authentic core values. (Authentic core values? Yep. There are […]
Are Your Core Values Real or Aspirational?
You live according to your core values. I’m not saying you should live by your core values or that you need to dream up a list of core values to live by. I’m telling you one of the most painful truths about life: You already live according to your core values. Already. Every day. Show […]
I Quit the Culture War
(I wrote this in 2012, but the situation has only gotten worse. I feel even more strongly than I did then.) It’s an election year, apparently. I’ve noticed the sprouting yard signs and the increasing emotional urgency in political conversations. The internets buzz with people making their case and stomping their virtual feet. As a […]