In this solo episode of the Breakthrough podcast, host Travia Steward invites listeners to examine whether the values they live by truly belong to them or are inherited from family, community, or society. She begins with a promotional call‑to‑action for a free 20‑minute discovery call, then shares a personal anecdote about how a breast‑cancer diagnosis in 2020 shifted her top priority to health. Travia defines values as guiding beliefs and principles that act as a moral compass, lists examples from her own "value sheet" (compassion, respect, health, family, faith, freedom, adventure, community, courage, justice, responsibility), and explains how values can evolve over time. She discusses how external influences—parents, cultural norms, friends, and even social‑media validation—can cause people to adopt values that aren’t authentic. Travia offers a practical exercise: write down a top‑10 list of personal values, prioritize them, and compare the list to how one actually spends time. She stresses aligning values with one’s mission and vision, using daily actions (e.g., morning workout, meditation, prayer) as evidence of true priorities. Throughout, she encourages listeners to "question everything"—from daily routines to career choices—to uncover genuine values and achieve greater fulfillment. The episode closes with a reminder to schedule the free discovery call and a motivational sign‑off.
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I'm Travia Steward, and I want to help you move past barriers and obstacles that are preventing you from getting what you want in life. This is Breakthrough. Are you someone who feels stifled and stuck in your life, and you know that this is not as good as it gets? Then I want to connect with you for a free 20-minute connect call. And in this free call, I will help you identify an area of your life that you want to improve so that you can actually begin living the life you really want to live. I want to be a catalyst for helping you get what you want. So if you're someone who is tired of trying to figure it out on your own, this Connect Call is for you. Grab a spot on my calendar today by clicking the link in the show notes. All right, let's get into it. Yo, what's up, my peeps? Happy Podcast Tuesday. So as we jump into this episode today, man, I tell you, the time is getting near here in Arizona where the weather is, it's about to start to be beautiful. It's not as hot anymore. And so we are out of the triple digit temperatures, which means more time for some pickleball. So guys, if you are not into pickleball, I challenge you to find some people who will teach you how to play it. It is one of the most fun things that I do now, and we just love it so very much. So that brings me to the reason why I want to talk about pickleball is today's episode is about values. What is it that you value? And pickleball is one of those things that I have come to value because it goes under my top value of health. And so as we jump into it, I want you to think about the, the pivotal question for this episode is, are your values actually your values and not your parents' values, your significant other's values, your friends' values, your society, your community's value, your church's values, Are your values actually your values? So let's talk about what a value is. So when I say value, this— these are like beliefs and principles that guide and influence like your attitude, your choices, your decisions. And it plays a significant role in shaping your character and your worldview. You know, values serve as like, like your moral compass. And it helps you to determine, you know, right from wrong and what's right for you and what's wrong for you, what's important to you and what's not important to you, you know. And these things can be both external as well as internal, you know, through a combination of your experiences in life, you know, your upbringing, you know. Sometimes it's influenced by societal norms. Maybe it's just a personal reflection of the things that you've been, things that you've been through. So values, if I pulled out my value sheet that I use with my clients, they're things like compassion, respect, health, family, faith, you know, freedom, adventure, community, courage, justice, responsibility. So many things that can fall. I mean, the list goes on and on and on and on. But what I want you to know is the values vary greatly from person to person. And just because your top 3 values are what they are today doesn't mean they're gonna still be those top 3 things in a year, in a month, or whatever, because we all evolve and grow. And so, but what I want you to think about is understanding that your values should align with your core beliefs, especially if your core beliefs are your beliefs. Which means, are your values your own values? And so, so many times in life where we go, we are raised in this, this, this small community, or we're raised in a really, really close-knit family, and our parents have passed down what's important to, you know, be married to the same partner for, for the rest of your life. And maybe that's a value that, you know, something you witnessed growing up. But if it comes down to a point in your life where you're like, I'm no longer happy, even though this is a value that was handed down from my parents and this is all I have been able to see in my whole life, that doesn't mean you have to continue to live through that value, especially if it no longer aligns with where you are in your life. It no longer aligns with, you know, are you happy? And so Sometimes it's when we think about these values, it's like wanting and needing other people's validation. I know I used to be really, really guilty of that. And it was like I was constantly seeking other people's approval for how I live my life. And so I would censor myself on social media. I would censor myself with certain types of people in my circle. Because I wanted my values to appear to be sort of like their values, right? I wanted to pretend that, oh, this is my topic, this is really important to me, even though that shit wasn't important to me. What's important to me are the things that help me to feel fulfilled, the things that bring me joy during the day. And so if you have never taken the time to figure out what your values are, I invite you to do that today. Like you can go online and pull up a value sheet and go, you know, these are my top 10 values, you know, and then prioritize them. What's number 1, what's most important. But I want you to really ask yourself what's important to you, not to your family, not to your kids, not to your significant other. And so when we look at values, values go hand in hand with what is you, what is it that you believe your mission is on this earth? What is your vision for your life? And then values is that third category. So we always think about making decisions based on our mission, our vision, and our values. And so when we question if our values are genuinely ours without being influenced by external factors and other people, I think a lot of us will come up with some different answers. You know, and sometimes our values are things that, you know, like there's some people who value money, but even though they're unhappy, but they keep chasing and chasing and chasing and chasing money because, you know, money is important, we got to pay our bills, all those things. But is this something that you really, really value? And so our values reflect what really matters to us the most. And so when we talk about our values, we talk about things like, what is the first thing that you're going to do in the day? Well, that should be one of the most important things. Yeah. That should be the thing that's in the top of your value, your top value. Like for instance, my top value is my health. Now it hasn't always been my health. I've always wanted to stay healthy and be able to, you know, physically do things that, you know, to, to play sports, to play pickleball, to play golf. You know, all those things, to cycle, to ride my bike. But health hasn't always been my top value. Health became my top value after 2020, or during 2020, when I was diagnosed with, with breast cancer. And then I recognized that my health is my wealth. And so every morning, and I'm, well, I'm not going to say every morning, but it's a high percentage, probably 6 out of 7 days. And when it's not 7 out of 7, I make up for it in the next day. But 6 out of 7 days I get up and work out. And if I don't do it first thing, I do it throughout the day. And so, but Monday through Friday, I have a routine where I get up, I meditate, I say my prayers, I do my silence, and I work out because my health is my wealth. And I want to always feel good. My second value that's very important to me is love and connection. Love and connection. So I am someone who I identify as an extrovert. Now I do have some introvert tendencies. There are sometimes where I don't want to go out and be with people because I have learned to value my own presence and I've learned to value alone time. So I love that, but love and connection is my top value. And then my third is my business. So if I'm spending a huge amount of time and something that's not important to me, then that's not a value. But my business and growing it and impacting as many people as possible is one of my top 3 values. That doesn't mean I don't, you know, value honesty and integrity. That doesn't mean I don't value my faith and family and those types of things. How you spend your time, the top 3 values or ways that help me to make the decisions that I want to make, that I need to make to, one, be healthy, to experience love and connection in this lifetime, and then three, to grow my business because that's important to me. And so I want you to think about your alignment and does it actually resonate with who you are at your core, or have you actually found yourself making a choice or a decision only to realize later that, you know what, I no longer believe this. I no longer value this. This no longer reflects who I am or what I want. Yeah, it's good to make money, but you know what, if I'm not spending enough time with my loved ones or with my kids, my significant other, is money still your top value? And I want you to look at it like, where are you spending the most time? Is that your top value? And I'm not talking about like your 9-to-5 job, that kind of thing, but like, well, I gotta work. I get that. We, you know, lots of people have to work because we gotta pay our bills, right? But I want you to ask yourself, where are you spending the majority of your time? And so as you look at the majority of your time and go, okay, I'm spending most time here. What's the second? What's the third? That's what you value because we all have a choice in how we spend our time. So your values, are you making that a conscious choice? Or is it just something that you're going through, you know, kind of mindlessly doing and then go, okay, it's the weekend. Okay, it's Monday. And so there can be a disconnection between what we believe to be our values and our actions. And so the actions are a clear sign of what's important to you. And so you know, common values in life for things like success. You know, it's, it's common to value success. It's common to value wealth. It's common to value, you know, family. But do you really value those things? Do those things really bring you joy? Or is it because your friends value that? Is it because your parents or whoever it is that's in your circle of influence? So at this moment, it's crucial to engage and, and, and get into some self-reflection and explore what's important to you in an honest and integral way. And I want you to think about the things that you do every single day. Question everything. Question why you get up when you get up. Question the type of job you have. Question your friends. Question whether or not you go to church. Question what kind of vehicle you like to drive. Question everything. Because if you are able to come into a full alignment with who you are, and then those values align with your actions, I believe you will begin to live a more fulfilling life. And then it also help you discover some things that you probably didn't even know mattered to you, that you didn't even know you actually love doing. So question everything so that you can open up a whole new world of self-discovery into some things you never thought you would ever even embrace. And so getting into your core of embracing your individuality, it's okay to have values that are different from others. It's okay to have values that are different from your, your parents, your family, your friends. Now we do want there to be some commonality, some common denominators that bring us together. But every single value, every single thing that's important to you, we want it to be important to you because you value it. And so as I begin to wrap up, our values don't have to always stay the same. The first time we do the values exercise doesn't mean that's the last time you'll ever do it. We wanna make sure that The goal is to allow your values to guide your life and be a genuine, a genuine way that you are living into the things that you actually want to do and not being imposed by someone else or external influences. So the question I have for you today is, are your values actually your values? So I invite you to dive deep into where you're spending your time, the decisions that you're making, because where you're spending your time and the things that you're doing, well, that's indicating what you value. And is it in alignment with what you want to value? And so I want you to think about one more time, what are the reasons that you do the things that you actually do? Figure out what your values are, what lights you up, what makes you feel fulfilled, and then look at it through the lens of what is the vision for my life? What is the mission I believe I'm on this earth? And what are the values? So with these 3 categories, it will help you to go, this is the decision I'm making because it fulfills my vision. I'm making this decision because it's the mission. It's part of my mission on this earth, and it's one of my most important values. So I want you to always think about living with the values that you value so that you don't continue to live through other people's values while abandoning who you are at your core. So, all right, my peeps, are your values truly your authentic values. All right, my peeps, have a most beautiful rest of your week. And don't forget to grab that discovery call. It's 20 minutes that could really make a difference for the rest of your life. And I'm talking 20 minutes. 20 minutes is not that long. So grab your spot by clicking on the link in the show notes, in the show notes, and we'll talk next week. All right, my peeps.
