30 Days to a Better Man: Day 1

One of my favorite sites online is called The Art of Manliness. During the month of June, they are doing a series of posts called 30 Days to a Better Man, which gives a task each day of the month to improve yourself as a man. Day 1 consists of Defining Your Core Values.

I ended up taking several lists that I had always had floating around in the back of my head (from books, Boy Scouts, military, etc.) and combined them, whittled them down, and prioritized the top five to get my Core Values. While I was doing this, part of the exercise was to do it with an eye of what is important to you as a Man. Overall, I'm happy with the list; each one could be broken out into several separate ones, but I think the essesence of the ideas are there.

I have to admit, this was not overly easy for me. I'm probably more shiftless than I care to admit...but that is what this is suppose to help me overcome, right? Many of the values on my initial list were not exactly values that I have, but rather values I though I should have.

Core Values That are Important to Me as a Man

1. Show my faith by my actions - a Man can talk about what he believes in all he wants, but unless his actions back it up, it doesn't mean squat.
2. Honesty - A liar just isn't a Man. Period.
3. Loyalty to my family and friends - Should a Man ever be ashamed of his family or friends? Not if he wants to have either for very long.
4. Thrifty - Having the self-control to be able to ask and answer truthful, "I want it, but can I afford it?" and "I can afford it, but do I need it?"
5. Forward-looking - You don't drive a car by constantly looking in the rearview mirror; a Man doesn't live his life by dwelling on past successes or failures.

So there they are. Here's to developing/stregthening these values in myself!