Redesign Your Career
Module 2: What are your most important values?

Welcome back to Redesign your Career.

This week we’re going to look at what’s important to you and how you value things in life, because your values affect how successful you become.

Part One

Wouldn’t it be great if we could work out why we get angry or annoyed with other people? Understanding why you do something and why you sabotage yourself when you are succeeding is all down to your values. Our values are the way in which we judge that something or somebody is of worth or important to us.

And, because a value is a rule which we allow to control our emotions, they have an immense impact on our lives by controlling how we act and what we say. They are what we believe is important in life – our life and the lives of others. The way we respond to events in our lives is controlled by our values.

What do your values mean to you?

Think for a moment about this situation:

You’ve driven into your local supermarket car park. The car park is full and you’ve driven around twice looking for a vacant parking slot. It’s very hot and you don’t have air conditioning. You’re running late to collect the kids from school for the third time this week, and it’s still only Wednesday.

A lady has returned to her car and you shout though the window, ‘Hi, are you leaving?’ She says that she is and you pull up ahead to let her reverse out. You have your indicator flashing to let other drivers know you have claimed this space. As the lady pulls out of the space, another car immediately pulls into your vacant parking space.

How do you feel about this? Who is wrong in this situation? What should happen next? What will you feel if that doesn’t happen? Would you challenge this other driver? Would you speak or shout at them? Or would you just drive away?

Part Two

Why our jobs can make us angry

Your reaction to this event will be governed by your rules, which in turn are controlled by your values.

The person who would challenge the other driver could be controlled by the value of justice and feels that their rules of fairness and justice have been violated. This challenge can also be witnessed in what is commonly known as road rage.

Road rage can be triggered when a person’s values have been violated. Road rage has led to death – this is how strong and significant our values are. We are willing to die for our values. So if we are working in a job which is not in line with our values we will constantly experience feelings from mildly irritated to anger or depression.

Find out what your values mean to you, you can make the most of this explosive information to catapult you into the life you want.

Part Three

Balancing conflicting values

Human nature being what it is, we believe our values are the only true, proper and right values to have. We think that what’s important to us is also important to other people, and if it’s not important to them, then it should be!

Most of the time, our close circle of family and friends share the same values as we do and this continuous support and back-up of what is important can lead us to believe that we are right and others are not.

Unfortunately, outside of this sphere of people we meet on a day to day basis, many different value systems exist.

This can be frustrating, for if values are rules most important to us, how is it possible for other people to value things less or more than we do? If things are important to us, surely they should be important to others?

Values can create great pleasure and great pain, and these kind of dilemmas are frequently the cause of conflict between individuals, groups, and countries.

Getting clear on your values before you change your career will mean that you get a career that really fits in with your values. It will be easier for you to make those ‘life defining’ choices and take the right opportunities and options. When your values are congruent with your career you will live an exciting, balanced life.

Action!

Actions of the Week

Take your pen and paper and answer these statements without hesitation.

1. What is important to you in life? Give one word answers – for example honesty, love, peace, joy. List as many as you can think of.

2.  Now go back to the list and circle 5 words that leap off the pages to you.

These are your strongest values. By highlighting your values and being aware of them you increase their power and you ‘own’ them. Your values have been with you all along – but have you always been with them?

3. For the next five days, ponder over your values. It needs time – it’s that important.

Take one of the 5 primary values you defined each day, and as you go about your day think about it and of how it sits with the way you live and work during the day.

At the end of each day, sit down for a few moments in a quiet place and answer these questions.

  • How much did this value feature in your life to-day?
  • How congruent is your your value with the way you actually live?
  • Are there ways you get it to show up even more in your life than it does?
  • Do you leave this value at home when you go to do your job?
  • Are there ways you can increase the impact of this value in and on your life?

The challenge is for you to express your values in every area of your life rather than hide them away only to be used at night or on the weekend.

When you live your values you have achieved personal integrity, wholesomeness, and you are true to who you really are.

Well done – it isn’t easy to think about things so deeply! Keep these lists  and your answers in a safe place, because we will need them next week when you’ll be learning how to reveal your dream job.