The Importance Of Having Core Values

By ANTHONY CRANE

My core values and what they mean to me are a bit different than the core values I upheld while serving in the U.S. Navy. The following is why it’s important for you to have clearly defined core values, too.

Have you ever thought about what you value most? Once you start then ask yourself “why?”. Once you answered “why?”, ask again “but why?”. And so begins your trip down the rabbit hole of self-discovery.

The U.S. Navy's Core Values

The U.S. Navy’s function is to protect our country’s waters during time of war and to aid our allies as much as possible during natural disasters. Because of this, the Navy’s core values are Honor, Courage, and Commitment. What this meant to me and still does is:

Honor.- It means to always do what is right, especially when no one is looking and there’s no way of getting caught. Honor is that which we defer to when confronted with a moral conundrum. If everyone practices and values Honor, this results in the strengthening of our ranks and enhancement our units’ cohesion. Always do what is right regardless of the consequences to self or others.

Courage.- Is absolutely necessary to carry out Honor as you can imagine. It’s the strength we call upon when our will, reflexes, or fight or flight response tells us otherwise. For example in the case of a fire. Everyone on board our war ships are trained in basic firefighting and we are required to keep these skills sharp. This is because if there’s a fire and we’re in the middle of the ocean, there is no fire department to call for help. I had the privilege to volunteer for the fight deck fire fighting team and received extra training. This consisted of a better understanding of class “Bravo” fires (oils and fuels) more closely. And let me tell you, I got awfully close to those fires! All of it was for us to be prepared in case of a helicopter crash.

Our instinct of survival as human beings, is why we feel fear in the face of danger; the more life-threatening and imminent the danger, the stronger the fear. You are then faced with two choices: to run for your life, or to fight. This is the “fight or flight” response.

There are two main factors at play, and I imagine this also applies to firefighters. The first factor is having the correct training, the second is having the Courage to see it through; to always fight even if every cell in our body is shouting at us to fly.

Commitment.- Is to the cause, whichever one that may be. Especially if that cause is you. Whether it’s your job, health or accomplishing a mission, we must always fully commit in order to ensure success. This is even if it’s uncomfortable, we don’t agree with it, or if we don’t fully understand “why?”. As you can see, Commitment is also essential in order for us to work as a unit (unit cohesion) and succeed in accomplishing the most difficult of missions.

What Is a Core Value?

In essence, a core value is that which you cannot live without when you reach the end of the rabbit hole of questioning. You’ll know when you get there when:

• 1) you can clearly narrow it down to a single word and
• 2) asking “why?” no longer produces answers. If any of them were to be taken away, you would lose the essence of who you are.

This has nothing to do with ego, our perception of reality, or defining our identities. To take away one of your core values would be to break your spirit. That is why it’s so important to break them down to the most basic, bare-bones, fundamental level. So what do you value the most?

My core values can be yours, too. Nobody has a monopoly on core values and it’s OK if they change and become more specific over time. As I said earlier, stating clearly what they are and why, gives us the clarity we need to make decisions when faced with difficult situations. That is our moral compass and it’s integrity should never be compromised.

The Navy’s core values would work for you too if I were training you for war. But I’m not training you for war, I’m showing you how to become free and enjoy all facets of your life and of those you care about. And it’s important we start as soon as possible.

I will always hold dear and near my heart Honor and Courage, as they’ll always remain in my principles. Commitment however, is the one that meshes seamlessly with my current initiative, so I’ve adopted it. My core values are: Freedom, Purpose, and Commitment.

Freedom

When I speak about Freedom as a core value, I’m not just referring to the traditional sense of freedom of speech, oppression, or capture. I am talking about my personal trifecta of Social Freedom, Financial Freedom, and Personal Freedom.

Social Freedom.- Means for you to have the ability to hang out with your friends and family whenever and wherever you want and even access places that are “invite only”. Not to mention the chances of you meeting a celebrity increase exponentially if your friends are those that hold charities, non-profit organizations, and other philanthropic events. You need to have a high “net worth” for that, right? An abundance of money, which rolls right into Financial Freedom.

Financial Freedom.- At this moment I want you to forget about social classes. When I talk about Financial Freedom, everyone falls in only one of two groups. This may come as a pleasant surprise to you because these groups have nothing to do with how much money you make, but how you make your money. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and not my personal opinion, there are three forms of income:

1. Earned. This includes active wages, commissions, and tips. Your IRS W-2 form.
2. Passive. This includes property rentals’ income, interests, and appreciation or depreciation.
3. Portfolio. This includes capital gains. In other words, how much money you make or lose from the moment you buy an asset to the moment you sell that asset. Like real estate, gold and silver, and stocks.

The details of how differently each form of income is taxed is best left to a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) which I am not.

As you can see, there are only two real ways to make money, either you actively work for it or you don’t.

To be actively working for it means you exchange your time for money. This may be as a consultant, an employee, or a business owner (this last one may come as a shock, I know). The important question to ask, to clearly mark the distinction is: If you were to move to a deserted island for a year with no services, would that stream of income stop? If your answer is “yes”, you are actively working for it. If your answer is “no”, then you belong in the second group in which you are no longer working for money. Moving you into this group is what I want for you.

I need to make myself clear, not working for a specific income stream doesn’t mean you’ve never worked for it. The only exceptions being if that income is coming from a Trust Fund or an Inheritance. But that’s beyond the scope of this post. It means you have built a machine and that machine will continue to make you money, theoretically forever, whether you get out of bed in a deserted island or not. It needs no input from you. This is what I mean by Financial Freedom. No amount of money can convince you to go back and I can help you achieve this sooner than you think.

Personal Freedom.- means you can go wherever you want in a moment’s notice. It means you can receive the best medical care available if and when you or your loved ones need it the most. It means no more waiting in lines at the airport, no more dealing with traffic, no more worrying about clipping coupons or driving to three different stores so you don’t miss a sale. Personal Freedom means peace of mind with “peace” being the operative word. And yes, you can do it!

Once you have achieved these three forms of freedom, there is no going back. Your eyes open to whole different worlds and if freedom were to be taken away from you, it would undoubtedly break your spirit. That is why Freedom is my first core value.

Purpose

I had to think long and hard in order to reach the conclusion that purpose in life is priceless. Without purpose, people lose the will to live or no longer get excited about their future. Life is beautiful and the race is long. After understanding at your core what it is, to always have a purpose, your entire outlook in life will change. If at this moment you don’t feel that your life is beautiful then your purpose should be a plan to change that as soon as possible.

There is a fantastic book by Viktor E. Frankl named “Man’s Search for Meaning.” It’s not a “how-to” book, but a personal account of his survival of the Holocaust at the hands of the enemy. I must warn you though, it’s not for the squeamish or the faint of heart. Purpose for him was the single driving force that kept him want to continue on living day after day; not hope, not love and not prayer. Purpose.

It’s imperative to always have something to achieve. Whether it’s a college degree in something you love and not one that makes you false promises or wealth, finding your perfect partner, or getting in peak health condition. Purpose will keep you going after you have reached financial freedom, made millions of dollars, and then you are smacked in the face with a harsh reality and ask, “well then, and now what?” Will that be it? No more reason to live for? All the hard work you put in to become free of everything that ties you down and now it’s over? Believe me, you will achieve freedom faster than you think, and I can prove it to you. I can also show you how to always look ahead and never be confronted with the question: What now?

Right here, right now, I’ll give you a few revelations. After you get there, you help other people succeed as I am now helping you. It’s very likely you will be retiring at a very young age because you’re following a different path from everyone else. Once you discover how abundant money is, you’ll wonder how you can spread this message the fastest. Others have also chosen to climb Mount Everest, or travel around the world helping people less fortunate than you and me. You can learn a new language or a new trade for fun. Throwing parties and splurging on expensive stuff gets old really quick.

Have you ever asked yourself, why are these celebrities miserable if they have it all? Well now you know why, they are lost and no longer have purpose.

Commitment

If you have made it this far you have already shown a level of commitment higher than a huge percentage of the population, reading is a dying art. This alone is proof that somewhere inside you, there’s a hunger for a higher level of success than of those around you. I know that feeling, and most entrepreneurs know that feeling. A lot of people that hate their jobs are just entrepreneurs in denial, or are scared to take a leap of faith. Faith in themselves. I’ll show you how to break out of that prison some other time. For now, let’s keep focusing on having commitment at your core. Commitment is the force that drives you ahead.

Commitment to your family, to your health, your career, is to sacrifice some freedoms in exchange for achieving a desired outcome. Commitment gives you the strength to say “no” when you really want to shout “Yes! I’d like to eat those doughnuts!” or “Yes! I want to go party!” or “Yes! I want to buy that new shiny object!” Commitment is discipline. You’ll need this especially when you start working for yourself. As temporary as that may be (because I want you to be free, remember?), being your own boss in your own company takes a lot of guts and a lot of commitment.

As I mentioned before, unless you come from generational wealth, you must first build a money making machine to be free. Let’s think about it for a second. If you don’t have to be at the office by 9:00am, at what time would you wake up? How often would you take days off? How easily would you allow yourself to get distracted? If I had to summarize the job description of an entrepreneur in one sentence, it would be “to make decisions”. Because the buck stops with you, there's no one else that can take the blame or pick up the slack for you. This sounds scarier than it is, but procrastination and complacency are the two monsters you’ll have to keep at bay until your “money printer” is built. So, I’m giving you the same gigantic weapon I use so you can fight them off too, Commitment.

Conclusion

You can name as many core values as you see fit. Just remember, aim to narrow them down to a single word and to be that which you cannot live without. The fewer they are, the greater the impact.

If you only take away one thing out of this, is that it’s never too late to make freedom your purpose, make a plan on how to achieve it, and commit to it. I did it, and I can help you do it, too.

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