Charting a course towards your career, or charting a new course or even sometimes trying to stay on course is always a challenge, life just gets in the way on occasion and takes you off course. Here I am at middle age, struggling with how to get back on course to what is meaningful to me in my career and balancing it with life. The best way to get back on course or not to veer off course is knowing your core values. Using our core values can guide us to making better decisions.
Core values are interests and qualities that you have always found yourself drawn to. Core values make us who we are and when work and life are aligned that is when we feel ourselves, engaged and energized and life happens effortlessly.
Below is a link of a list of hundreds of core values, first begin by going through the list and see what words naturally appeal to you and circle 20. Second, look through your list of 20 values and ask yourself the questions below. Something to keep in mind is, anytime you are answering "should" to any of the questions, you are not present to what you want and feel. Should is an ideal, and you are creating a set of unattainable standards you can't live up to and leave you disconnected from what you are want and what is meaningful to you. See my blog WORD to the WORLD for more on integrity and being true to ourselves. Once you have answered the questions below try to bring your list to 5.
- Do you want it, but it doesn’t come easily? Then it’s probably a “should,” not a value. Delete it.
- Are you doing it in order to get something else? If yes, it is not a value. Cross it off your list.
- Did you do it when you were seven years old? If yes, it’s probably a value. Keep it on your list.
- Is it really exciting and you’re a bit afraid of it? If yes, it may be a value. Keep it on your list.
How Can I Use My List of Core Values?
You can use your list to guide or validate your decisions about your work and career. I would say that your list of core values is a necessary – but not sufficient – tool for decision-making about your career, or anything else in your life, for that matter. The key question is: How does the choice you are considering line up with your core values?
You can also use your core values to help you simplify your life and focus your energy. Can you find ways to spend more time and energy on activities that honor your values, and less time on things that conflict with them?
Being aware of your core values can also help you identify when something is missing in your work and/or life – look through your list and brainstorm ways you can bring those core values more into the forefront of your life, if they’ve been on the back burner.
What are your core values? How are they aligned with your work, play, and life?
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