Values

What is most important to you? What ideals do you embody? These governing philosophies provide the framework of your life.

Defining your values helps you understand what it is you want to accomplish. Your goals and methods of achieving them need to be in line with your underlying values. Writing them down is the first step in defining the job you want.

Love, kindness, health, environment, simplicity, compassion, justice, morality, knowledge, truth are all important, but it is dismissive to leave it at that. The process of defining and ranking your most important values is revealing.

You may use your skills and knowledge in a variety of jobs. Planting a garden and constructing a building both require organizational skills. Understanding which values drive you is key to deciding what work will serve your life goals.

This is applicable to all aspects of your life. This exercise started me recruiting people for the Parachute Experiment. I began with my wife. Understanding what values and priorities you and your loved ones have transcends any job hunt.

The inherent problem is the list of words you can use to describe human values is seemingly endless. To solve this problem it is common to group them into categories. I have provided an example for you to build on. There are no right or wrong ways of doing this, make adjustments as you see fit.

Mind – knowledge, truth, clarity, intelligence, wisdom, logic, reason, imagination
Body – wholeness, fitness, health, healing, strength, activity, security, food & shelter (for you or others)
Senses – the human senses, beauty, art, music, pleasure
Heart – love, compassion, friendship, intimacy, affection
Conscience – morality, justice, righteousness, honesty
Spirit – spirituality, faith, compassion, forgiveness, love of humanity, peace, equality
Entertainment – laughter, joy, happiness
Possessions – simplicity, savings, prosperity, charity
Earth – environment, exploration not exploitation, longevity, nature

Once you are satisfied with the categories and their included values rank them according to their importance to you. It is tempting to quickly do this in your head but use a pen and paper. Order the broad categories by their importance to you and circle any particular words that stand out. The idea is to create a list of values that serve as your governing philosophies in all things.

If your desire is to obtain fulfillment in your work then it must embody your values. Understanding what those are is a prerequisite for looking for your dream job.