By definition, values are important and lasting beliefs or ideals about what is good or bad and desirable or undesirable. They have major influence on your behavior and attitude and serve as broad guidelines in any given situation. In other words, they are like magnets in your moral compass that will guide you in making decisions, especially in situations where the right thing to do isn’t the obvious.

Having a strong set of personal values means standing for something and staying true to yourself. It will offer you an answer whenever you ask yourself: „Should I do that?“. And, most importantly, it will help you define who you are and who you want to be.

Finding your personal set of values

Defining a set of values is a tough job. After looking through numerous methods, I came up with the four-step process below.

Step 1: Brainstorm

Usually, you already have a set of values that you carry with you. They can be influenced by your parents, people you surround yourself with or topics that are important to you, just to name a few.

To get started, just brainstorm values that come to your mind when you think about your personal life. Write them down. Then put the list aside. That’s your starting point.

Step 2: Expand your list by choosing from a pre-selected list of values

To extend that list, simply go through the list of values below or find any other list of values by simply searching for it on the internet. Now take yourself some time and circle the ones your gut says fits you.

Now you have a selection of values in front of you. To complete the process, you may go through one last step: Finding external values.

Step 3: Expand your list by finding values externally

Defining your values should not only be based upon who you are, but also on who you want to be. A great method to find additional values is to think about people you look up to. Which values do you see in their actions? Why are they desireable? Take the ones that you find most important and write them down.

Step 4: Select your most important values

At the end, you’ll have a list with numerous values. Now take some time and think about your most important ones. Three is a good number, it should definately be no more than five in the end, as they should stick in your brain and subconcious mind. As soon as you selected them, write them down. Pin them onto the wall in front of your desk. Tattoo them onto your wrist. Whatever you do, be sure to think about them whenever you need to make a decision.

Congratulations! In addition to your strengths and passions, you now also know which values are important to you and should be part of your life. In the next articles, we will cover some techniques that will help you work out your dreams and visions in more detail. Stay tuned and most importantly:

The post How to find your dream part 3: Defining your personal values appeared first on DREAMA TV.

Passion is defined as a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something. It has nothing to do with job titles or ways to earn your living. Get your head together and start thinking freely about things you really enjoy doing. And don’t you even think about limitations.

In the following, you will create a list of things you are passionate about. So get out your notebook, sharpen your pencil and write down the things that you love. Here’s some questions that might help you:

• What fascinates me?
• If I am in a bookstore; what section am I drawn to?
• What do I end up talking about when I meet my friends?
• If I would need to spend a free weekend working, what would I work on?
• What is the work I would gladly do for free?
• When was the last time I massively overdelivered on something? What was it I was working on?
• If I wouldn’t need to care about money, what would I do?
• What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail?
• What activities did I enjoy doing when I was a child and which ones do I still resonate with?

So you found some things that make your knees wiggle, and the hair on your back dance tango. The next step is to take your list of strengths and put it right next to it (If you haven’t defined it yet, here’s how). Find matches.

If you’re good at cooking and you’d spend a whole weekend just to surprise your friends with a five-course-meal at Sunday’s dinner party, that sounds like a match. If you’re good at woodwork and find yourself in the workshop every evening, that’s also a good starting point.

Now that you’ve found some matches, it’s time to put your dreams into action. Before you even think about excuses for not doing the things you love, here’s some advice:

• Start. Immediately. And make it a habit. Integrate the things you love into your daily life and become better, one step at a time.
• Stop doing things you hate. There’s no point in doing things you’re not passionate about.
• If you think you don’t have enough time, stop watching TV and checking fucking Facebook.
• If you think your passions interfere with the expectations of people around you, surround yourself with like-minded people who support you.
• Find at least one thing you’re passionate about and try to do it for a living. Now, this isn’t as easy as it sounds, but it’s well worth the effort. If you dread going to your job, or find yourself constantly lacking motivation, or find what you’re doing dull and repetitive, you need to start looking for a new job. Staying in your current job will not only continue to make you unhappy, but you are not realizing your full potential in life.

Before we go on with techniques that help you realize your dreams, we’ll have a look at how to define your values. Values will lead you along the way and will help you taking the right decisions. One last thing left to say:

DO IT.

The post How to find your dream part 2: Finding your passions appeared first on DREAMA TV.

“DON’T WORRY ABOUT WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS. ASK WHAT MAKES YOU COME ALIVE AND DO THAT, BECAUSE WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS IS PEOPLE WHO COME ALIVE.” – HOWARD THURMAN

The world is changing faster than ever. As a society, we are in need of future solutions that we can’t even think of today. These solutions can only be created by people who are truly passionate about what they do.

Or as Sir Ken Robinson, the world-renowned creativity expert and TED speaker, puts it in his book The Element:

It’s very possible that our children will have multiple careers over the course of their working lives, not simply multiple jobs. Many of them will certainly have jobs we haven’t conceived yet. Isn’t it therefore our obligation to encourage them to explore their true talents and their true passions? When the only thing we know about the future is that it will be different, we would all be wise to do the same. We need to think differently about human resources and about how we develop them if we are to face these challenges. We need to embrace the Element.

Robinson defines the meeting point between natural apitude and personal passion as the Element. And that’s where this guide for dream development will start. We’ll have a look at how you find your own strengths and passions as a very first step to going for your dreams.

Before we do so, here’s some basic advice:

• Surround yourself with achievers. Stay away from the naysayers. As soon as you speak out your dream, they will come. They will laugh at you and talk you down. Don’t care too much about them, they’re just afraid you could be more successful than them. Go for people who push and motivate you instead. It will raise your chances to succeed tremendously.
• Dare to dream big. Don’t let anybody tell you that your dream is impossible. Be the one who takes risks having in mind that Nothing is Impossible. If you need proof, head over to our stories section.
• Start doing. You can’t develop your dreams in theory. Ongoing reflection is helpful for sure, but only by starting to work on your goal, one tiny step after the other, will you have a chance to succeed. You won’t find your purpose in life by sitting on the sofa and watching TV. Do research, experiment and surround yourself with like-minded people. The more you get into it, the clearer your dream will become.
• Tell people about your dream. The more people know about your dream, the more likely it is somebody will help you on your path. Be it with a contact, an advice or just by sharing experience. Don’t underestimate the power of serendipity.
• Follow your calling. Your calling. And stop caring about what your parents, your teachers, schools and institutions, the Pope or anybody else tries to tell you. It’s your life so do things that matter to You. There is no one way to find your true purpose in life. Keep your eyes open and stay curious and the world will offer perspectives you can’t even imagine by now.
• Find mentors. Finding the right mentors is crucial to your success. Look out for people who have experience in the field you will enter and who have the desire to support you.

Will it be easy? For sure it won’t. You will face obstacles, rejections and the worst odds. So why leave your comfort zone to go after your dreams? Because discovering your purpose will be the greatest thing you have ever experienced. It will make you a richer and happier person. It will change your perspective on life and the world around you. By doing so, life will offer you endless opportunities. Be sure to embrace them.

How to find your strengths

Many people tend to think that they’re not really good at anything. Oftentimes, this belief comes from schools and institutions, which only rate a certain kind of skill set as valuable. But school education is just a fraction of what human intelligence covers. Life is not just about logical thinking and language learning. Think about social intelligence, emotional intelligence, creative intelligence, you name it. Now let everything that comes easy to you count as a strength and write it down. If you find it hard to find something, the following questions might help you:

• What do my friends and relatives tell me I’m good at?
• What do I get asked for a lot by friends, relatives, or colleagues because they know I’m really good at it?
• Which things do I learn much faster than others?
• Which things can I do more easily than others?
• What do friends, family members and colleagues admire me for?
• If I would need to define my superpower, what would it be?

Carefully write down everything that comes to your mind.

We suggest you get a good notebook. Now lay it aside and let the questions sink. Reflect on it and you’ll find even more answers. Give yourself time and don’t rush into it. In the next step we’ll have a look at how you find your passions.

DO IT.

P.S.: Feel free to share feedback and questions in the comments.

Special thanks: DreamAcademia, Harald Katzenschläger, Wolfgang Stricker

The post How to find your dream part 1: Finding your strengths appeared first on DREAMA TV.