Values are the heart and center of your life decisions- and yes that includes your career!
When I first began my journey as a career coach 10 years ago, I didn’t understand why everyone was so focused on the idea of values. I genuinely believed values were a “nice to have” consideration in a job, but that people really needed our help narrowing what types of jobs would appeal to their skills, interest and personality. Values seemed to a bit to rooted in morality to be helpful in the practically of finding work to support your needs. And wow, was I wrong!
Values are at the heart and center of your life decisions both career and personal. I think of values as the defining core principals that exist and drive your choices across all life roles and spaces. So while they can be tied to morality they do not have to be if that is not part of your belief system and identity.
When I first started exploring values with clients I would consistently be asked the same question: “Are these values about work or about my personal life?” And my answer to that question both! Think about it, even if we create clear boundaries between work and home we are still ourselves in both spaces! So for example, family is a value that can create some confusion for some people. You might think about family as something that doesn’t impact work- you will value your family but you aren’t looking to bring your family into the workplace. But if we dig a bit deeper your value of family will shape your decisions about your work schedule, vacation and flex time, work format (virtual, hybrid, in-office), energy for connection with colleagues, compensation, geographic location, and much more.
There are so many great resources to explore your values! My favorite is the classic values card sort where you sort your values by priority. But you can find many online tools to get you started. When working with clients in any area this is something we do together during our beginning sessions together to help guide the goals and action steps we create together.
My key values that I use to drive my current decisions are: Challenge, Movement, Growth, Variety and Connection. Theses live on a sticky note on my laptop as a reminder, and as accountability when I am making decisions throughout the day. When I’m faced with a decision to take on a new project, collaborate with a peer, or change my schedule I return to that sticky note first before I make my next move.
These have not always been my core values- and I would argue that these values can shift and grow as you develop as a person, and as you move through different stages and experiences of your life. For example, movement has not always been a core value of mine. When I was working on my doctoral degree movement was not a regular part of my day, and received little attention as I was pursuing my career goals. However, as I transitioned out of that season of life and began to expand my non-career related interests I found movement was something that brought me joy, energy, and connection. Now this is a central part of how I plan my time and when I am not feeling my best I will check in to see if movement has fallen off my priority list.
So if you are feeling a bit stuck, or uncertain where to start with whatever you are facing, take a few minutes to consider your values. It won’t give you all the answers- but it can be your first step on your journey to reveal the answer that is best for you.
