One Key to a Content Life

The more I’ve experienced, the more I’m convinced that life is most meaningful and content when we live a congruent life. Congruency is when what you believe to be most important is evident in what you say and do. Your values are aligned with your behaviors, and that is consistent among all areas of your life, from work, family, friends, and everything else. As Stephen Covey said, “inside-out congruence [comes] from living a life of integrity in which our daily habits reflect our deepest values.”

Reading through lines like this, I think most people would nod their head in agreement. Of course, you would want to reflect your values in your daily habits. The missing key, in my opinion, is that we fail to do it consistently. If we are only living congruent lives every so often, our lives will seem less meaningful. It can be an up-and-down ride that has no steadiness to it, because we so often change who we are in different environments. But true contentment and meaning lies in doing what we believe to be valuable consistently, because we know that is who we are. This does not mean you are perfect, because we all fall short of our values, but it does mean that we put intentional effort towards congruency. When we fall down, we can look up at our values, reorient ourselves, and try our best the next time. For it’s not usually the most perfect people who succeed, it’s those who are able to get back on track most consistently.

If you haven’t clarified what you want your life’s values to be, take some time to do that. You can’t be content where you are if you don’t know where you want to be. But if you know what you value most, you can start living in alignment with those values. Live inside out, as Covey said, and your character will lead the way to not only congruency, but a meaningful and content life.

*Quote from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey