~by Haley Lynn Gray~
Being consistent is important to me. That means being consistent across all facets of my life, and being the same person everywhere I go. I don’t have a “work persona”, “home persona” or a “church persona”. It also means that I live my beliefs every day, and try to follow and allow them to guide me in everything I do. I’m living my values. Are you living your values?
Does living my values mean I’m a perfect person? Nope. I’m not perfect, and I don’t pretend to be. I am a Christian, so my values tend to be somewhat liberal, Christian values. I try to make business decisions that reflect those values. I do things like paying my employees more than the market rate. And I offer benefits, in a field where no benefits is the standard party line. How much do I really need to make off of each client? How much do I need to make to really be comfortable? I ask myself a lot of complex and hard questions on a regular basis.
Do you ask yourself hard questions? Do you ask yourself why you’re in a particular career? Does that career reflect your values? Do you make business decisions that reflect your values? Or do you compromise? How does that sit with your soul? How does that sit with your beliefs? Is it congruent and consistent?
Do you volunteer in the community? Do you give back? Do you give back in a way designed to reflect your values, or do you do everything for yourself? How do you think God views that? What about your family? For me, that means volunteering within the community. It means doing volunteer work with my children.
Realize that your actions speak your values over and over again, no matter what you say. It is how you live and what you do that reflects those values. I’m not here to tell you that my beliefs are the only right ones. I’m just here to encourage you to live your life in a way that is productive and congruent. Be true to yourself. At the end of the day, you have to live with yourself, and in your skin in a way that no-one else does.
I try to be absolutely consistent about following through, so that people know exactly what they are getting with me. No surprises about who or what I am, or how I’m going to react to a certain situation. Can you say the same?
Meet the Author: Haley Lynn Gray
Haley helps female entrepreneurs create a strategy plan for their businesses – so they can make enough money to spend quality time with their family, pay for their children’s dance lessons, pay bills – and not worry about where the next client is coming from.
Haley is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Leadership Girl. She helps other entrepreneurs build their businesses by sharing the benefits of her business education and experience through Business Coaching.
Whether you want to get a new business off the ground or expand an existing business, Haley can assist you.
Connect with Haley:
- Work with Haley: https://leadershipgirl.com/work-with-haley/
- Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Leadershipgirl
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haleygray