Introduction

As I reflect on the journey that has brought me to this point in life, I realized that I need to slow down and have a moment with myself to reflect back on my past decisions, actions, and their outcomes. I needed to pin down things that drive my decisions and define how I see the world around me, as living principled-centered life always requires constant reflections and a commitment to align individual actions with deeply held beliefs. The goal of this essay is to not only communicate my values, and principles that genuinely I stand for and resonate with me, but also to connect with people who share similar beliefs to build a better future for our kids and people we love.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” -Aristotle-

It’s For You First, Then Other People

I believe that individuals who are able to communicate their values have greater clarity in their decisions which leads to better outcomes, even when facing challenges. For example, we have seen many people prefer to lose big monetary rewards in exchange for holding on to their core values, or some who choose to speak the truth even when it has negative consequences for their career or life. The common factor between these individuals is that:

Living up to their values makes them feel good and balanced spiritually, psychologically, and physically. -Author-

Standing on solid values and principles protects you from your future self, specially when things are not going according to your plans. At that time, you may find the solution to your problems is to just give up or take an easy road, which is opposite when you stand on strong value like perseverance which keeps you pushing till the end of the tunnel. In addition, holding on to solid principles protect others from yourself, as you may got into a situation where backstabbing someone could have better short outcomes or bearing false witness would work to your benefits. That’s why being clear about your values always will have positive impacts on you before other people.

The Pillars: Values

Values are the core beliefs that guide someone behavior and decisions. Values comes and shaped by various factors: the community that you live in, your personal goals that you are seeking, the religion that you are practicing, or even during having a deep conversation with your friend. Also, values could be local and subject to the place and time that you’re in, and they could be universal and timeless spreading across continents and centuries. Personally, I have picked the most important values that resonates with me and I rely on them in every decision that i make, then I grouped them according to their purpose and impact on my life. These values serve as the foundation for my actions, relationships, and the way I perceive the world.

Core Values
  • Respect
  • Trust
  • Integrity
  • Compassion
  • Fairness
  • Equality
Personal Values
  • Vision
  • Growth
  • Excellence
  • Curiosity
  • Creativity
Community Values
  • Service
  • Collaboration

The Tents: Principles

Principles are the expression of values. An individual translates a value to the real world through principles. For example, respect is one of my core values, however when I want to practice it in the real life, I translate it using the following principle:

  • Respect

    To always treat everyone with dignity and value their perspective.

Here is the rest of my principles:

  • Trust

    To always be reliable, transparent, and consistent in my words and actions making others depend on me.

  • Integrity

    To always be accountable, honest, authentic and consistent in my words and actions making working with me easier.

  • Compassion

    To always try to be empathetic by understanding others’ feelings, kind, generous, forgiving and supportive for other people.

  • Fairness

    To always make sure to treat others equally regarding of their ethnicity, religion, gender or any background.

  • Equality

    To always make sure to provide the same access of resources to others regarding to their background as long as they don’t use it to harm others.

  • Vision

    To have a clear direction and know where I am going.

  • Growth

    To always strive improving myself and be a better person.

  • Excellence

    To always provide the best that I possibly can.

  • Curiosity

    To always stay hungry to know more and learn new things.

  • Creativity

    To always think about different ways to do the same thing.

  • Service

    To make sure to serve others with my goals and principles.

  • Collaboration

    To always make sure to keep my door open for other people opinions and work with them.

Final Note

I want to leave a note before leaving you with a final quote, what I have shared above are the ideals and I always strive to maintain strong and clear values, but in complex situations, compromise between multiple values is often needed, which is an art that gets better over time. Additionally, my principles are not static as they evolve as I gain new insights and experiences and enriching my moral compass:

Wisdom is knowing which values to hold firm and which to bend in the wind. -Stoic philosophy-