The secret to living an inspired life - defining your core values

I often get asked what my “secret” is…

• How did I achieve the life I currently live

• How am I so happy and positive all the time!?

And my answer is always the same - I created it this way.

But in order to create a life you love, you first have to define WHAT it is that you love, and what you want to have in your life (you can’t ask for something if you don’t even know what it is, right!?)

So that’s what I’m going to cover today, and by the time you finish reading this blog you’ll have the exact tools you need so YOU can go out and live an inspired life that you love.

The way I do this is by first defining my core values, and second by coming back to them every single day.

Let’s start out by quickly going over what “values” are so we’re on the same page.

What are values?

Values are something you do or focus on in your life that really light you up inside, inspire you and make you a better person. 

Values are beliefs you have, or things that are important to you, that guide the way you live your life.

They act as a guide for everyday life because before doing something you can ask, “is this in alignment with my values?” and if yes, continue to do it. If no, you stop and reassess the situation.

Some people say “pick your top 3 values and live your life in correspondence with them.” Well, I have 6 values because I can’t even think about cutting it down to only 3!

I’m going to share my 6 values with you today, because this is what I revolve my entire life around - everything I do (if you’ve been following me for a while now you might notice that everything I put out is related to at least one of these!)

Value 1 - Myself

Sounds audacious? I really don’t think so. The reason I put myself as number 1 is because I really feel you should be your number 1 priority. I honour and respect myself so much - and my self worth is so high, that I would never allow myself (or anyone else for that matter) to jeopardise me, my health, my emotional wellbeing or my life.

After all, your self worth = your net worth, right?

We tend to do this thing where we always put others before ourselves. In fact, we’ll even do things for others that are way beyond what we would ever do for ourselves!

Sometimes we speak to ourselves using really nasty words, or we look at ourselves in the mirror and belittle ourselves, our make ourselves feel really bad about something, when we’d never do anything this to anyone else!

I work hard with my clients to get them out of that thought process, to help them put themselves as a first priority and live an inspired life because they are able to feel so happy within themselves.

For myself, I look after my health and I focus on my self-care and self-love FIRST because those things are really important to me.


I also will never allow another person to disrespect me. That confidence has come over time of course, and from experiencing others treat me in ways I would never treat others or ways I don’t wish to be treated. Today, I am incredibly firm on this and I always stick up for myself & I’ll let others know when they have crossed the boundary. I can be sweet & soft but mess with my number 1 value and well … 😬🙅‍♀️

Value 2 - inspiring and educating

If I have lived a day where I haven’t somehow inspired or educated someone, I’ll make extra effort to go out and do that in some way, shape or form.

Whether that’s through an Instagram post, a YouTube video, a podcast episode, maybe a IG or FB story, calling someone up who needs me, or whatever it might be - this is always a priority for me.

I live a life that’s truly inspired when I am inspiring others and educating them.

And this doesn’t only apply to helping others either, I extend the same thought & gift towards myself. I invest a lot of time into personal development, self-education, and learning from the greats and copying their traits. 

Value 3 - positivity and abundance

I really feel that if you’re not in a positive mind-frame & you’re down in the dumps all the time, you feel like your life is crappy, your job’s crappy, your friends are crappy, you’re partner is crappy…everything is just crap, crap, crap - if you’re constantly thinking like that, you’re actually attracting more of that towards you!

So it’s no wonder your life feels 💩

I’m all about being seeing the duality in every situation - when I look at a situation that’s happened, whether positive or negative, I’ll always try to find the gift that comes from it (and there’s always something!)


There can’t be light without dark, day without night, peace without war, ying without yang … duality is all around us. Always.

That’s how I live my life. I don’t let myself polarise situations or negativity affect me, there’s always a silver lining. A blesson (blessing + lesson).

Value 4 - travel and adventure

I really love investing in travel! Travelling around the world, experiencing different cultures, meeting new people…

I’ve met some amazing lifelong friends from around the world, which is really cool.

I love experiencing new things, eating new foods, and having a really awesome time with friends and family overseas.

My husband Matt & I went on a 12 month honeymoon around the world this last year and it was the most amazing thing I have ever done! You can check out our travel adventures here on YouTube & Instagram.

Value 5 - MY business

I highly value people who are successful in business - I always love to connect with them and learn from them so I can absorb all of the knowledge like a sponge. 

My Business, to me, is really important.

I loveee what I do for work - it is my dream job!

It’s my creativity playground
Its where I can express myself
Use my voice to share and teach
It’s where I get to help others and watch them grow
It’s what allows me to live the life I live
It’s where I make new friendships
It’s where I learn and grow myself, and stretch outside my comfort zone
It’s fun, fulfilling & it lights a fire in my belly to strive for more, always.

Value 6 - friends and family

I value socialising, deep connections, conversations and learning from those in my circle of influence who I love dearly.

I love meeting people from all walks of life. You never know when you might meet someone and they’ll turn out to be your biggest teacher in life!

I think it’s so important to hang around with people who inspire you and lift you up. And it’s equally as important to let go of those relationships that aren’t serving you.

You are the average of the top 5 people you hang around. So have a think about who your top 5 people are - whether it’s your partner, or your parents, or your siblings, certain friends, or even the coffee chick that you get your coffee from every morning!

Whoever the top 5 people are who you connect with on a daily basis, you’re the average of those 5 people. So if there’s someone in there who’s a neg-ferret, or who is not motivating or inspiring you, or not lighting you up, you’ve gotta do something about that.

I’m extremely mindful of who I let into my circle of influence and who I allow an energy exchange with. This may sound blunt to some but I’m a huge believer that who I learn from and spend time with has a huge impact on me, my state, my mindset and my future. I always ask myself who do I want to be & who is the best version of me, and then I choose my friends wisely around that notion.

If I meet a person who gossips, doesn’t have nice things to say about others (or themselves actually), complains a lot or is generally not high vibe, its safe to say I will purposefully choose to not spend my time there. I’d love to take this opportunity to ask you if you have anyone like that in your life?

How to define your core values

So those are my personal 6 highest values! I live everyday in alignment with those exact things.

Now it’s time for you to come up with yours - but I don’t want you to just write down the same values as me, it’s important for you to think of your own!

Have a think about what it is in life that really, truly lights you up.

1. Grab a piece of paper and a pen right now - put some beautiful music on, get some essential oils or get a candle burning, get comfy - and I want you to write your top 50 values.

2. Once you’ve written your list of 50, stop and then push yourself to write another 20.

When you find that it’s getting hard to write things down that really mean a lot to you, stop and take a 2 min break.

Then get straight back into it - put on your fave song - and continue writing all of the values and things that are important to you.

Personally, I could write 500 things that I really love! Like the beach, personal development, reading, connection with people, teaching people, nutrition, health...and I could go on!

Now you might have a page of 70-100 values.

3. The next step is to highlight what the pattern is, and you’re going to minimise that down to about 10 things.

4. Take your list of the top 10 things, and cut that in half.

Aim to align yourself around the 5 or 6 words that really light you up.

5. Once you’ve got your top 3-6 values, I want you to absolutely promise yourself that from this day forward, you will live your life in correspondence with these values.

If you can live a life where you know you’ve touched on each of those values, you’re going to start seeing huge changes in your life, your mind, your body, and your soul.

This is what it means to live an inspired and purposeful life.

Now let’s just say you’ve written your top values, and you’re looking at them and thinking, “oh my gosh, I don’t do any of these, ever. I LOVE the beach, but I never go. I LOVE reading, but I don’t have time to do it…”


If you’re not living in alignment to what your values are, and you have some negativity in your life, or you feel down in the dumps… that’s why. 

So this is your goal for this week - write your top values down and leave them somewhere you’ll see them often, and live every single day in correspondence with those values.

I hope this blog has served you today!

Wishing you an abundance of health + happiness,

Chani x