For years I was stuck trying to THINK my way into changing my behaviors, beliefs, habits, actions. Not that I was all that bad or needed massive changes, but there were things I wanted to be different. I would get anxious a lot. I would get defensive sometimes. I would say no to social invitations. I would be afraid to try some new things. You know, just some things I wanted to change. So, I…
In just about any kind of self help endeavor you will be asked to identify your values. While this sounds pretty easy, the process is far from simple. Turns out we like a lot of stuff. We ‘value’ many things. The trick is determining your top 3-5 values that truly drive you to live your life. Over the course of ten years of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), or talk therapy, I read and heard a…
This week I share my story about identifying my values. Identifying values is one of those things that sounds easy, but is not simple. Sure, anyone can sit down with some online tools (like James Clear’s Life Lessons values journal), but it’s deceptively difficult to REALLY drill down to your personal values. On the surface values are things like love, joy, safety, and other intangibles that motivate you to live your life. Values are things…
After reading James Clears’ ‘Atomic Habits’, I wanted to try and add a new habit and get rid of an ‘bad’ one. Reading the book inspired me to apply Clears’ teachings and I knew I needed to choose some easy habits, or low hanging fruit, if you will. I had been thinking about quitting drinking beer before reading the book, so that seemed like an obvious ‘bad’ habit to change. And although I consider my…