Your values are the principles, standards, morals and philosophies you use to determine the way you live your life. Your values are innate within you and they provide you with direction when making decisions and choices in life. For this reason it is essential that firstly you know what your core values are and secondly that you are being true to your core values in areas of your life.
It is common for you to feel unhappy and frustrated when you are not aware of your core values; more specifically when you are living in conflict with your core values.
Values are not something we are taught much about. I only became aware of them when I discovered personal development. Therefore it is possible that you are not clear on your own values so I will share some of mine with you.
Love, connection, security and freedom are some of my core values. One of the main reasons I chose to become self-employed was because freedom is one of my core values and I felt frustrated and restricted by the structure of the regular 9-5. Security is also one of my core values therefore I did not leave my regular 9-5 until I had the financial contingency in place.
An example of how this could show up in a career is to imagine security is something you value however you have worked in sales your entire career, and mainly based on commission. It is likely that you will experience feelings of dissatisfaction and unhappiness and you could move from sales job, to sales job not understanding why you feel the way you do; completely unaware that feeling secure is vital for you.
“Values are not just words, values are what we live by.”
Senator John Kerry
Take some time now to think about what really matters to you. Here are 3 steps to help you do that:
1. Make a list of at least 10 words that describe what you consider to be important in life.
Here are some words to get you started:
Independence, Success, Peace, Love, Creativity, Commitment, Sensitivity, Integrity, Spirituality, Achievement, Intimacy, Adventure, Security, Friendship, Fun, Gratitude, Knowledge, Happiness, Freedom, Harmony, Courage, Power, Honesty, Wisdom, Family, Compassion.
Remember these are just suggestions; feel free to use your own words.
If you get stuck, it may help to think about phrases you always use or contingencies you always have in place.
2. Rank your words in order of importance. You may find this hard with some of the words so initially you can rank 2 or 3 words equally.
3. Look at your list and if you have similar words such as trust and honesty chose the one that you value most – go with your gut instinct.
If you have ranked any words equally, re-rank them so you are left with just 8-10 values.
Once you have your list, you can use it to look at your job, career and any other areas of your life where you feel frustration or discomfort. Are your core values being met? If not, it could be time change…
Author Bio:
I’m Leanne Lindsey, a career coach and founder of LL Coaching Ltd www.llcoaching.co.uk. I work predominantly with professional women who are feeling dissatisfied and unfulfilled in their career. Women, who are still ambitious and want to be successful, however no longer enjoy their day job and would love to do something more meaningful.
It is my aim to reignite your passion and enthusiasm whilst inspiring and motivating you to a career and life you love.