Some may think I’m crazy when I say I turned down a million pounds, and yes the reality is I really did. There is something about being true to yourself, that you can't put a price on.
📷 Many years ago I was MD of the ANSA Marketing Agency. We had a huge contract with the tobacco industry; where we basically helped to promote cigarettes. I never liked smoking, my grandma died a painful death due to lung cancer and I couldn’t wait for the smoking ban to come in, and promoting cigarettes was how I was making a living!
The smoking ban came in and the sales of cigarettes went up which meant more work for our company. It was something that played on my mind most days, then I would put a plaster on it by going on lavish holidays and spending a fortune on Christian Louboutin shoes, but like the late great Bob Marley sang “you can’t run away from yourself”.
When I sat down and wrote my mission statement for my life none of my values matched the mission statement I had for our contract with the tobacco industry. When your life doesn’t align with your values that’s when your life feels wrong. My life felt heavy and unhappy and the luxury holidays and the backbreaking shoes couldn’t fix it. So I chose to live my values. Some of my highest values are family, freedom and creativity. This is how I live my life today.
So, are you living your own personal values?
Write your own personal mission statement. This will give you a clear sense of who you really are.
Ask yourself when you were the happiest in your life?
Ask yourself when did you feel really satisfied with life?
Look at what your values are (you can find lists of values on the internet if you need help). Do your values make you feel good about yourself?
Select your top ten values and keep halving them until you come to your top one. This is the value that guides you, mine is freedom …….. can you tell?
Always remember, goals are temporary and values are forever.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny”.