How To Craft A Value Statement
I added values and value statements to my annual goal-setting method in 2023, and I was shocked at how easily goals were planned and achieved.
I discovered that creating value statements before I plan out my year has become a huge game-changer for my goal-setting process. I can’t wait to walk you through how I wrote them out, how they guided my planning for 2023 and how much has come to fruition since I first crafted them.
In the fall of 2022, I had the pleasure of attending a retreat that Alison Villa hosted. During the retreat, she took attendees through her Values Reset program. Since the retreat, I've simplified how to discover your values and then craft value statements that you can use as goal-setting guardrails.
The Value Statement Process
The Life Category Squares
In the Values Reset retreat, we sat down and dreamed big in different areas of our lives, including what we value around family, couple, community, location, home, food, extended family, travel, possessions, transportation, how we spend our time, and an other category. I chose my other category to be around hobbies or leisure. When we went home from the retreat, we were also encouraged to spend some time writing down what we value around a career bucket.
In the Essential Planning Method, I had already mapped out 12 life categories that you audit and then plan life category goals around. I started mapping out my values and value statements to the matching life categories.
So how can you discover your values?
If you were talking to your highest self, the self in the future that has everything you want. What would you value in each area of your life?
Here are a few questions in each category to jump-start the process:
- Career: How do you make money? How do you spend your time?
- Finances: How much money do you bring in a year? What do you spend your money on?
- Health: What does health mean to you? What are you working on optimizing?
- Fitness: How do you move your body? How often do you move your body?
- Nutrition: How do you nourish yourself? How do you source your food?
- Travel: How often do you travel a year? What type of trips do you take?
- Home: What does your home look like? Where is it located?
- Spiritual: How often do you talk to a higher power? What does your relationship with God [Insert Your Word] look like?
- Couple: How do you spend time with your partner? What do you do together?
- Family: How do you spend time with your loved ones? What do you do together?
- Friendships: How do you spend time with your friends? What do you do together?
- Leisure: How do you spend your free time? Do you want to learn anything new?
The Value Statement Writing Process
Travel Value Statement
I'm going to give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how I crafted my Travel Value Statement.
Here is what I wrote down in my brain dump box:
- 1 Adventure Trip
- 1 Relaxing Trip
- 1 Honeymoon Trip
- Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Bolivia, Belize, Peru, Costa Rica, Croatia, Africa, Japan, Bali, Mallorca, Greece, Australia, Switzerland, Alberta, BC, Canada East Coast
- Mountains, Huts on the Water, Canoe Trip, Treehouse, Beach, Forest, Waterfalls,
- Live & Work Remotely While Travelling?
From the bullet list, you can then write down 2 - 3 sentences that best describe your values or things that you want in that area of your life.
- I value travelling at least 3 times a year.
- I value taking 1 adventure trip, 1 relaxing trip and 1 honeymoon per year.
- I value finding locations where we are surrounded by mountains, beach, forest or waterfalls.
- I value travelling so that I can live & work remotely.
This then became:
We value travelling 3 times a year. I take at least 1 adventure trip, 1 relaxing trip, and one honeymoon with my husband a year. We do an annual canoe trip in Algonquin Park as a family. We live and work remotely during the winter where we can get ample sunlight and a moderate climate.
Value Statements & Goal Setting
So here is how my value statement manifested into my travel goal in 2023.
Travel: I planned out the 3 trips at the beginning of the year, put them on the calendar in the Map Out Your Goals section of The Essential Planner and then I booked them.
My husband and I travelled to the Dominican Republic in March for our annual honeymoon which I also classified as a relaxing trip. We travelled in August to Vancouver Island with our twins and explored 3 parts of the island (so I’m classifying this one as our adventure trip). I travelled to Austin, Texas for a web3 conference in April, and I went to Salt Lake City in September for dōTERRA’s annual convention year,
The annual canoe trip happened for the first time in 2024, once our twins turned 4 and it was much easier to keep track of them at a campsite in the middle of nowhere.
Now, the working remotely part in the winter hasn't manifested itself yet. Right now, we have 2 senior dogs, and it just doesn't make sense to travel with them or find a dog sitter for longer than a month, so this value will have to wait until later.