What is the main reason we cannot feel satisfied with our lives?

According to the western way of life, the degree of life satisfaction depends on whether we have achieved our goals. The meaning of life is related to performance, achievements, social status, prestige, influence and power. Typically, we are not closely connected to our values, and so, we can easily pursue goals that make no sense to us. For example, we may be trapped in pursuing a particular career or buying a large, impressive home that we neglect to take care of our family or health.

Life satisfaction is directly related to how closely connected we are with our values. I am not saying that we should not set and achieve goals. But what I believe is that our goals need to be connected and rooted in our values.

Values ​​are our core beliefs about how we want to live, think and act, giving direction to our lives. Instead, goals are all those achievements that we want to achieve and the situations that we want to experience.

A short story

Imagine two children wanting to visit the museum located two hours from the city where they live. John, the child of our story, has one goal: to visit the museum as quickly as possible. During the trip he constantly asks when they arrive at their destination and complains about how bored and tired he is of waiting until they reach the museum. Peter, the second child in our story, has the same goal, to get to the museum. He observes and admires the route and enjoys every minute of it. Suppose now that the car breaks down halfway, which child do you think enjoyed the ride even though the goal has not been achieved yet? And when both children finally arrived at the museum, which child do you think enjoyed the trip to the museum? John focused exclusively on the goal, linking his satisfaction with the visit to the museum, he could not be so happy. While, Peter living in the moment enjoyed every minute of the trip before he even reached his goal.

So how do we live a life aligned to our values?

First, you will need to identify and define them. Our values ​​are as unique as our fingerprint. No two people have the same values ​​nor do they pursue them to the same degree. Then, every goal you set will need to align with those values you identified. For example, ask yourself, what will this goal help me with, what value does it serve, freedom, independence, care? Finally, remember that values can be fulfilled a zillion different ways and not through a specific goal. If you want to become rich to give to yourself the satisfaction of being genuine, then you are going to wait for a long time before you could find life satisfaction.   

Values ​​play an important role in how satisfied we are with our lives. Not only do they provide us with inspiration and motivation to do what we need to do, they also support us on our life journey.

We may be days, weeks, months or years away from achieving our goals, but we can live up to our values in every step and enjoy continuous life satisfaction in what we do. And even when we fail to achieve our goals – a quite common scenario in life – we can still be satisfied with our lives because we live a life aligned with our values not our goals.

Τhe takeaway

For continuous life satisfaction live a life aligned with your values and not your goals.

Whenever you feel ready, I can help you in the following ways:

1. With my coaching program “Discover your purpose in life”.

This is a four-week 1:1 coaching program. It has a specific structure and is based on scientifically proven practices, utilizing the best possible knowledge provided by scientific research in coaching psychology (coaching psychology), in accordance with your profile.

2. Send me an email to starakilifecoaching@gmail.com and ask your free copy of my workbook “My core values” and find out whether you live a life according to your own values. It is the first small step to start feeling satisfied in your life, without stress, worry and confusion.

3. Follow me on social media

4. Contact me at

starakilifecoaching@gmail.com | Cell: 6980481821

and ask me about individual coaching sessions, seminars and corporate training programs.

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash