When you are in business there are things that come at you from many different directions. There are a lot of people who will be happy to give you advice about everything from how you should dress, what you should do, not do, say, or not say. Opportunities will come your way the more successful you become. This means you will need to come up with a way to make a sound decision about what you are going to do, where you are willing to go, and who you are willing to trust. You need a strategy that allows you to measure your heart and your head. You must be willing to be in both spaces.

The best way to do that is to be completely and utterly clear about your values, how they show up in your business, and the values of others.

1. What are the values that you and your business hold true?  As an example, here are my values, Contribution, Courage, Commitment, Curiosity, Freedom, and Fun.  Everything that I do or how I work with my business encompasses these values. When an opportunity comes my way, I ask myself, “How does this opportunity match the values that I live by?”  When Frederick Marcoux asked me to come to Australia from the US and work with BNI Australia I ran the opportunity past my values, there was a perfect match up.

2. My next question was about the people involved.  Do the values of the people involved match my values? If the values of the people involved are not in right alignment then the likelihood of the relationship working out is not very high. In the past, I did not pay much attention to the values of others and I would bring people on my team whom I thought were just really nice people and seemed to be in alignment with me, I listened to my heart but not my head. Over time I learned that they were not in alignment with me and in fact, their values were far different from my own in ways that created a lot of conflict with my organization. This cost me time, money and heartache.

Today I pay attention to my heart, but I go back to my head and measure the what and the who against my values. When I am in right alignment and being responsible for my decision I encounter great success.

So take the time to learn what the values are that you live by on a day to day basis and from there you will be able to drive your business from your heart and your head.