What Do You Value?

In my last post, I mentioned asking questions to help people discover their values.

Today, I want to ask you straight up:

What do you value?

For me, I value being able to spend time doing the things that I love with the people I love. And many times, the things we do cost money. So I value being debt-free so I'm not a slave to a lender and can spend my money where I want when I want (as long as my wife is on board, of course). 

I also value being financially "cushioned." A cushion is something that's soft and absorbs weight. So the financial products and services I use are to protect me in case of a major blow. They soften the impact of a negative life event. For me, I have term life insurance, retirement savings, an emergency fund (self-insurance), and I'm a part of a health care sharing network (NOT insurance). 

I value having quality time with myself and with family and friends (both are vitally important for me, an introvert). To maximize the quality of my time, I need to minimize the number of things that distract and pull me away from that time. Things like constantly cleaning and picking up the house, or trying to keep a mental checklist of all the things I need to get done in a day. I have to clear away the clutter so that what remains is vital and important. 

I know I probably just lost some of you on the "cleaning and picking up the house." How do you limit the cleaning of your house? WHY would you limit that? I'll talk about that more in a later post. Stay tuned. :)

I value high-quality relationships. So I don't just spend time with anyone and everyone. From my perspective, that's a waste of time. I can't possibly give every person around me 100% of my focus and attention. It's not possible. So I'm selective with who I spend time with. I'd rather have a smaller number of really good and fruitful relationships, than a large number of surface relationships. 

These are just a few things that I value. But because I know what I value, I can make decisions based on a framework and not on a whim. And because of that framework, I'm in control of my time, money and relationships. 

Question: What are some of the things you value? How do you make decisions based on your values? Leave a comment below to discuss!