What Happens When You Finally Live Aligned With Your Values ft. Ann Sheu

As a genius network member, you've heard a lot about corporate mission statements, vivid visions, and other tools designed to guide decisions and define your identity in the marketplace. Values are similar, but different. Personal values are the guiding principles that shape your behavior. Some are created, some you've outgrown, but a few are hardwired into you. These are what Ann Shu calls your no matter what values, the ones that you live by, regardless of circumstances, they don't fade, they hold strong and and when clearly identified, they become your superpower. This is where Ann specializes. She creates courses, workshops and talks for high achieving individuals who want to build a business and a family that are aligned and deeply connected. She delivers actionable tools, structured systems, and practical strategies backed by an ongoing support. Ann began her career as a lawyer, but walked away from that path to become a coach, helping leaders gain clarity around their vision and values, both at work and at the home. Because business success doesn't automatically translate into success at home, the title of her talk is your no matter what values, they're your superpowers. Please help me welcome Ann Hsu.

Thanks, Sho.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

Have you ever found yourself being really intentional at work? Getting everyone aligned around your vision, your values, your mission, setting smart goals, having weekly meetings. You're doing all of that in the business. But then in your personal life, you might just be, I don't know, winging it. Maybe even just trying to survive the days to make it to the weekend. Maybe just trying to survive the weeks to make it to your next vacation. If so, you're not alone. Because most high achievers often are more deliberate in their business than they are in their personal life. It's not because you don't care, but life is full. Our schedules are really, really busy and oftentimes we don't take the time to stop and ask, is the life that I am building aligned with what actually matters to me? That's what we're going to talk about today. Not work, life, balance, or productivity hacks. What we're really going to talk about is getting clear on the values that really define who you are. They define your relationships. They define how you show up day in and day out so that you can bring that same level of care and clarity and intention that you've been bringing to your business all these years. Most people skip that foundational step. The values work. And what they often do is, you know, if they've done the values work, maybe they have tried it once and they got it wrong. They create a list of aspirational values. The Aspirational values of who they want to be might feel noble. But when you create a list of aspirational values, all it often does is lead to feelings of overwhelm, stress, burnout, anxiety, and quite frankly, just feeling like you're not enough. Like you're constantly falling short. So today, let's talk about a different way, a better way, a way to define your no matter what values, so that you can use those values to really lean into who you truly are and unlock your true superpowers. These values, once they're defined, they're going to be your compass. And you're going to be able to use these to filter out a lot of the noise in your life. Relationships that are not aligned with your values, business projects, investments, all the things that are creating noise in your life right now. So about two decades ago, my husband and I were running a fast growing family business, working around the clock basically 363 days a year. We're in retail and working 100 plus hour weeks. And we found ourselves following down the same path as my in laws. Really successful on paper, but completely disconnected at home. So we started applying the tools that we were using in our business and we applied those same tools into our family. Shared goals, clear values, weekly meetings. And the transformation was incredible. But what we learned along the way was that true change does not start at the family unit. It actually starts at the individual level. And this same idea can be applied in the business world.

Right.

If you want to change your business, it starts with you. That's why you guys are here. That's why you guys do this work. It starts with clarity at the individual level. This philosophy is what we call me for we doing your me work. So instead of your homework, doing your me work. And that really serves the greater good. This me for we is really about putting your own oxygen mask on first. Really understanding that to really show up as your best self, to lead well at home and at work. It's really hard to do that if you have lost sight of who you truly are. Oftentimes what I see is that leaders will shrink themselves for the sake of their family or their sake, for the sake of their organization. Right? If you're doing it for your family, this is what it often sounds like.

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I'm going to set aside my dreams, my passions, my voice, because that's what my family needs right now. In this season of our family's life, that's what we need to do. And it's often from a safe, a place of selflessness, of sacrifice, of love. But when we shrink ourselves, when we make ourselves small for the sake of the loved ones, it's really doing a disservice to them because we're not bringing our full, whole, authentic self to the table. And if you're constantly denying what matters the most to you, it's really hard for you to show up as your best self. So the me for we work, this me work that I talk about, it starts with one really powerful question. And it's really simple. What are your values? What are your true no matter what values? Not the pinterest, worthy, aspirational list of words that sometimes people will print out and put on their wall, but the ones that are true and lived in you day in and day out. And I think this is where most people get values work wrong. They create a list of aspirational values. Who they want to be, who they think they should be based on what society has told them, based on what their family has told them. You know, we had a client who showed me his list of values. It was laminated. And he showed. This was a list that he made from before he attended our workshop. So I can't. I'm not taking responsibility for this. But it was a laminated list of values, and he kept it in his wallet. And every morning he pulled it out and he put it on his desk to remind him of who he wanted to be. Did you guys hear what I just said? Who he wanted to be. Those were not his values. Those were his aspirations. Values are who you already are, not who you want to become. And when you confuse the two, when you make a list of values that have aspirational in them, it just makes you feel really shitty about yourself because you constantly look at that list and you think, I'm not enough. I'm not good enough. And you feel like you're constantly falling short. It's an exhausting way to live. So how do you get to your three to five, no matter what values? There's five questions that I like to ask. Number one, what are the things that you care about deeply? Number two, what are the things that you act on without having to think about it? Without having to prioritize it, you just can't help but be this way. It's almost part of your hardwiring, part of your DNA. Think about how you spend your time, your money, your energy, your resources. Number three, what are the things that you fight for, that you advocate for? You try to convince other people to be this way. We have a client who every single time she comes to our workshops, she's telling me about the courses, the fitness classes that she's trying to get her friends and family to do with her and how she's trying to get her family to eat healthier. She has a no matter what value of wellness. Number four, what are the weird, quirky, extreme, maybe irrational parts of you? Those things give you clues to your no matter what values. For me, I am crazy about how much time and money I spend on coaches, courses, peer groups like Genius Network, Strategic Coach Sagan. Like, if you looked at our bank account, it would not make any sense to people outside of this room, right? It's a little irrational to people outside of this room. They don't get it. So what are the weird, quirky, irrational parts of you? And then number five, what are the things that you find yourself complaining about pretty regularly? Because your complaints often give you clues to the things that you actually can care about. We call this your commitment behind the complaint. Now remember, we are looking for your no matter what's, no matter how much money you have, no matter much time you have, no matter what's going on in your life, no matter what season you're in, no matter what, this value shows up. And we're looking for 0% aspirational. So we use the 48 hour rule. If you can't give me a real life example of how you've lived and breathed that value in the past 48 hours, I would argue it's not a no matter what value. Call it a goal, but it is not a no matter what value. Once you get really clear about these no matter what, you're going to be able to use these to make decisions, to filter out the noise. You're going to understand your triggers better. You'll be able to set goals that are stickier because they're aligned with what actually matters with you. When, with your hard wiring, these no matter what values are your superpowers. So I would just encourage you guys to do the work that you need to do to be able to clearly articulate to yourself, to your family, to your teams what your no matter what values are. This could be journaling this could be talking to your friends, your family, your spouse. In our workshops, we use a deck of core value cards. Do whatever work you need to do, because once you're able to get clear on those no matter what values, you'll be able to live a life that is aligned with what actually matters to you. Thank you.

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