In the quiet moments of the day, do you ever reflect on what’s important to you and why? Have you stopped to think about why your priorities are what they are? Each of us is driven by different motivations based on what we value. God created each one of us to be unique for a reason, which is what makes getting to know one another so interesting and fun.
Identity is one of the most important things we will ever discover. Have you really thought about who you are? What drives you? What motivates you? What makes you different from everyone else? We all have goals in life, yet do we know how to achieve them? Are you guided by just your desires, or do you have a set of core values steering you?
At SpringHill we needed to figure out who we were before we could help anyone find out who they are. We made a priority early on to figure out what our core values were and to make sure our decisions reflected those values, always. After careful consideration and reflection, we discovered a unique set of four core values:
- Contagious joy: creating life-transforming experiences by combining faith and fun, innovation and the hope of the Gospel.
- Relational focus: working in the context of personal, loving, and caring relationships.
- Adventurous faith: leaving room for God to work, being open to taking risks, knowing that He can do immeasurably more than we can imagine.
- Holy discontent: always striving to grow in Christ through professional curiosity, continuous improvement, and professional and personal sanctification.
Interestingly, we don’t just apply these core values to our campers’ experiences but also to ourselves as well. These four values provide understanding around why we do things the way we do, what we call The SpringHill Way. And these values truly are our core. They aren’t something I brought to SpringHill personally; they’ve been with us since the very beginning.
When it comes to creating SpringHill experiences, we only align ourselves with people who can live those values, truly. What that measure does is allow us to end up with a team of people, not only our team of staff and the people we hire in the summer but also donors and board members and volunteers who line up with those four core values. So that’s our secret sauce. And it really is the tangible expression of those values that we hold dear, and those beliefs that we hold in our hearts to be true.
Take the time to figure out your core values and what you want to accomplish in life. When you do, the ability to achieve those goals will only improve and you will find success!