My values and I | TQueremos | Tecnológico de Monterrey

Values play a very important role in the construction of a person's personality and way of life. Making the choice of values can be a complex process that involves several factors such as age, social context, support network and one's own level of internal knowledge. In addition, values can change with life circumstances.

It is important that as a student you begin to recognize what values resonate with you and your ideals, in order to direct your actions to be built in coherence with your way of living.

One of the crucial times to create new goals is usually at the end of one year or the beginning of the next, with the intention of adopting habits that will lead you to be a better version of yourself.

There are 3 powerful reasons to write New Year's resolutions: momentum, priority, and direction. Firstly, it gives momentum; writing down the goals or objectives for a new year becomes an excellent motivator to achieve personal growth and integral wellbeing. Secondly, prioritizing allows you to focus on those tasks that are most relevant to meet the goals and achieve the desired objectives. Finally, in terms of direction, setting new New Year's resolutions allows you to make an analysis of where you are in all your dimensions, in order to define new objectives.

In other words, analyzing your personal values and then writing down your goals can drive you to pursue your desired achievements, while at the same time having a positive impact on your overall wellbeing.

This activity can be done in writing or digitally on your computer and consists of 3 elements:

1. Appreciative Inquiry

2. Values pyramid

3. Vision Board

Choose the first dimension you want to work on in order of priority in your life. The dimensions are spiritual, emotional, social, physical, intellectual, occupational, and financial. It is important that you analyze one by one all the dimensions of well-being as this is what will help you build a plan to achieve a happy, fulfilled life and have a greater sense of accomplishment in each area.

Appreciative inquiry

In this activity we will use the "Appreciative Inquiry" (AI) methodology to define values and goals.

Stage: Discovery

Explore stories of strengths to find, understand and appreciate what works well and build a sense of confidence and energy.

1. Perform a personal self-diagnosis and document it.

Think of a time in the past when you felt satisfaction in the different dimensions of well-being with the achievement of your goals and with the environment in which you found yourself. At this moment, you experienced a feeling of fulfillment, balance, success, and harmony. Look for those strengths you had to create new experiences. Some questions that may help you in this reflection are:

Can you remember what feelings you had at the time?
What did they represent for you at that moment?
What do you appreciate most about that experience or that personal state?
What part of this experience made you a better person?
Tell the story of your best moment when you were in that state.

Document the characteristics of your personal self-diagnosis, the following questions may be helpful:

Describe in detail the time and circumstances so that you can identify:

What was done right?
What was easy?
How did you use your support networks to get it done?
What were the obstacles?
What were the personal resources that were used?

Stage: Dream

Create positive images of the future that ignite your sense of purpose, hope and motivation.

2. Start by thinking about your desired future

Create clear and positive mental images of what you want.
Write down that scene or mental image in detail.

Stage: Design

Identify possible actions and resources to make your values and goals a reality.

Values list

3. Express a value and describe it

Think of a path towards that desired future, reflecting on how you can achieve that dream through the question: What values can help me move from where I am to where I want to be?

Choose a value and describe what it means to you and your context. Remember that you can take the value from the list on the side of this tab.

Example: Value: Self-care Description: learning to take care of my body through rest, exercise and nutrition.

4. SMART goal by value

Brainstorm and define one or several goals for each value chosen, organized in order of priority and determine the most important expected results (it is important to use the SMART methodology).

Stage: Delivery

5. Habits monitoring

Analyze what new habits you need to develop to achieve each goal you defined.
Using the "Habits Monitoring" template, you should keep track of the habits you need to develop. At the end of each month, you will be able to analyze your performance.
Using the "Weekly Monitoring" template, you should reflect and keep a weekly record of your successes and obstacles to achieving the goals in each dimension of wellness.

Psychological flexibility: Acceptance and Commitment Matrix "ACT Matrix".

It is important to be aware that internal resistance to change will arise, and therefore it is important to develop psychological flexibility by regulating or changing your goals using the "Act Matrix".

Stop and explore the obstacles on the way to your goal.
This template should be used regularly as you work towards your goals and increase your capacity for self-observation.

Don't forget:

As time goes by, we are not the same person we were a month or two ago and this can also change what we want for ourselves.

Remember that it is preferable to work on a few dimensions at a time and once that goal or habit is integrated into your daily life, you can build a new plan with a different dimension.

Values pyramid

For this activity, remember to use the "Values pyramid template".

Vaues pyramid

1. In the "Dimension" column write in order of your priority the well-being dimensions according to your interests.
2. In the "Value and description" column assign a value to each well-being dimension that you decide to work on according to the priority you assigned.
3. In the "Value and description" column, describe what this value means to you (you should choose your values not only taking into account personal benefits but also the common good).
4. In the "smart goal" column write in the format the goals you defined in the previous step.

Vision Board

With this activity you will be able to capture your desired future and take action since mental images can work as fuel to start that path towards the desired future and as a motivation to achieve it.

1. Prepare a blank sheet of paper or a new power point document.

2. Choose the most important dimension you want to start on, according to your values pyramid.

3. Start cutting out or searching the internet for images or phrases that represent the value and goal you want to achieve.

4. Arrange the images you obtained in a way that pleases you and reflects the goals or objectives of your desired future in a clear way.

5. Put on your vision board the value, description and goal for the dimension you are working on.

Remember to go back to the beginning to work on the next well-being dimension.

If you or someone you know needs help, you can call the TQueremos Line for support 24/7, all year round.

📞 TQueremos Line: 800 813 9500 / 442 295 3004

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Online service: https://www.tec.orienta-me.com

This program is an accompaniment to the development of personal wellbeing.

None of the content is intended as a substitute or to be considered as medical advice, medical and/or psychological counseling, diagnosis or treatment.

If you feel you need help for yourself or a loved one, seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health professionals.