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31 Day Reset: Day 4 – My Top Ten Values

I’m participating in the 31 Days to Reset Your Life program at Happy Black Woman. The program is designed to help you evaluate your goals and priorities and think of them in the context of your life today and how you might be able to refocus on what’s important. Read on to learn about my experience with the challenge!

I had a leg up on Day 4’s exercise, because I’ve actually done something similar before. We were asked to take some time to write down everything we value, anything that we care about – at least more than 12. Then, we needed to designate from that list the ten we felt were at the top.

In the previous exercise I did, I had narrowed it down to five. I did the original exercise with Deirdre Maloney; you can read about her company Momentum San Diego here. And not surprisingly, those five were on my list again (I didn’t do the exercise that long ago). But I found my additional five to be very interesting. I had to very, very selective to do the first five – but now I had the opportunity to list other parts of my life that were important.

My original five: Being generous, leadership, leaving a legacy, love, making a difference

The five I added tonight: Being a role model, connecting with others, having a family, integrity, succeeding in my career

I think being a role model and connecting with others are the two that jump out to me most. Being a role model perhaps is my elaboration of leadership, leaving a legacy, and making a difference all at the same time. It’s important to me to always conduct myself in a way that others respect and love. I also value making connections – this is why my friendships and relationships with my family are so important to me – because connecting with others is an important part of my life.

I encourage you to do this exercise, too! Doing the original five was so eye opening to me, and allowed me to understand the underlying motivation for everything I do.

-N.C.

What’s in a Name?

I just read this and had to re-post it! Deirdre Maloney of Momentum San Diego writes about the importance of something that might seem small and trivial, but it’s so important… accurately re-counting a name. I can’t tell you how many times I see this between my name (Cole, Mr. Chapin, the list goes on and on) and my CEO’s name, which can commonly be spelled two different ways. Now, I want to echo what Deirdre says in her post that while this topic is of greater importance to me having a strange name, it’s not just that. It’s the importance of paying attention to details about someone you’re corresponding with. A name is something very personal and it means a lot to us – so when something like that is misspelled, what else might you be getting incorrect?

Deirdre’s blog is wonderful – if you’re interested in learning more about leadership, organizational management, and communication, you should check it out!

-N.C.