My Ranked Values

I can't remember what site I pulled this survey from, but for the purpose of trying to understand myself better I attempted to put the following values in order of preference. It's tricky when they're all really important! This is where I'm at:

Enjoyment

To enjoy my work. To have fun doing it.

Friendship

To work with people I respect and to be respected by them

Family

To have time with my family

Personal Accomplishment

To achieve significant goals. To be involved in undertakings I believe personally are significant - whether or not they bring me recognition from others.

Expertness

To become a known and respected authority in what I do.

Prestige

To be seen by others as successful. To become well known. To obtain recognition and status in my chosen field.

Wisdom

To grow in understanding of myself, my personal calling and life's real purpose. To grow in knowledge and practice my religious beliefs. To discern and do the will of God and find lasting meaning in what I do.

Independence

To have freedom of thought and action. To be able to act in terms of my own time

schedules and priorities.

Personal Development

To learn and to do challenging work that will help me grow, that will allow me to utilize my best talents and mature as a human being.

Integrity

To live and work in compliance with my personal moral standards. To be honest and acknowledge/stand up for my personal beliefs.

Creativity

To be innovative. To create new and better ways of doing things.

Security

To have a steady income that fully meets my family's basic needs.

Wealth

To earn a great deal of money (i.e., well beyond my family's basic needs). To be financially independent.

Health

To be physically and mentally fit.

Loyalty

To be committed to the goals of a group of people who share my beliefs, values and ethical principles.

Leadership

To motivate and energize other people. To feel responsible for identifying and

accomplishing needed group tasks.

Service

To contribute to the well-being and satisfaction of others. To help people who need help and improve society.

Community

To be deeply involved with a group that has a larger purpose beyond one's self. To perform in effective and caring teamwork.

Location

To be able to live where I want to live.

Power

To have the authority to approve or disapprove proposed courses of action. To make assignments and control allocation of people and resources. 

Mini Conclusion - Enjoyment at #1?

It's funny how I put enjoyment at the top, and then when I look at my current, or even past situation I'm typically always doing things I like, even if they are destructive to my overall well-being! I might be tired and need to sleep, hungry and need to eat, I might have work that needs doing or an appointment that needs to be attended, but you know what takes priority? A box set TV series I wanna watch, and Xbox game I wanna play or some sites I wanna visit on the internet! There's nothing wrong with those things, but it's clear my sense of moderation and balance is completely screwed! I know I'm not alone. Millions of people "should" be out fixing their homes or at the gym sculpting their physique, but instead are watching TV, having pointless gossiping sessions with their friends or just wanking off to porn!

I definitely need to work on my sense of balance by getting my priorities straight. This is tough. There is no magic pill to suddenly reverse my thinking. I can't instantly like the thought of working hard when I associate it with the years of abusing or negative self-talk: 

* Telling myself it's hard, it hurts

* It's a waste of time

* I'm not doing it right/well enough and this makes me feel inferior

* I've not done it as well as other people and so I'm a failure

* It's generally something shit taking up time which I could be using to do something fun!

The right idea is to be fully aware of and believing in to the positive aspects of work and then to consciously focus on them. So:

* This is working towards my long-term goals

* This will work towards putting me into better habits

* Without failure, I can't learn

* This will make me feel great for achieving something

* This will make me feel like a worthwhile part of society and human, instead of being an indulgent loser

I'll be honest- I still want to sit here all evening and be an indulgent loser rather than work on various projects, but at this stage, I just want to identify who I am and what I'm doing before trying to realign my values while I'm not I'm ready.

Wouldn't it be great if I could find a way to enjoy the things I need to do instead of endure them?

I do think it may be possible to think of 'going to the gym' or 'tackling a difficult work project' while feeling the same sense of ease I get watching late night tv or the same sense of excitement from playing a great video game I'm hooked on! It's probably a case of having the initial drive and then implementing some kind of NLP/CBT techniques? Its something I'd like to look in to.