Edition #14 | Are You Living Your Values or Someone Else’s?

There was a stretch of my life when, if you’d asked me what I stood for, I’d have given you the right words — family, hard work, doing the right thing — and meant every one.

But those words were vague enough to mean almost anything. And when life got hard — when I was tired, stressed, or stretched too thin — they didn’t show up. Instead, whatever mood I was carrying showed up, or whatever pattern I’d inherited and never stopped to question.

That’s when I learned something that’s stuck with me ever since: a value you haven’t defined is a value you can’t defend.

This week’s blog is about closing that gap — the work of actually naming what you stand for, in language specific enough to steer by when the pressure’s on. I call them lighthouse values, because a lighthouse doesn’t chase the ship or move when the weather turns. It holds its position, and everything around it orients to it. That’s what clear values do.

Read: The Power of Knowing What You Stand For

I even share my own eight in the piece — not because they should be yours, but because it helps to see what the finished work looks like before you start your own.

Let me leave you with one thing this Saturday: your values are already shaping your life, whether you’ve named them or not. The only question is whether you chose them — or whether you’re living someone else’s by default.

Still learning this alongside you,

Scott