Many of us have been challenged professionally, especially in these stressful, harsh economic times. Some of us are forced to shift what we do for a living, while others have been able to take some time to consider what it is they really want to do professionally. No matter your situation, it might be a good time to align with the BIG WHY – why are you in your career in the first place?

Many automatically say it’s for the money or the benefits. And, while that certainly may be a part of the big career picture, there truly are other forces at work in our choices for our own lines of work. You can discover your career values (or any of your life’s values like health, personal development, fitness, home life, for that matter) by asking yourself what is truly important to you about your career. It’s a powerful question, and one that needs revisiting from time to time.

Try this: take a minute to sit down and write out at least 10 values that are important to you about your career. Once you’ve made that list, place them in the order of importance to you.

For example:
1. Helping people
2. Educating people
3. Beautiful surroundings
4. Freedom
5. Giving back

and so on…

Once you rank your values in the order of importance to you, start at the top of your list, and ask yourself what is important to you about that particular value. What are the activities or duties you have in your current work that are connected to that value?

For example, let’s work with helping people. What’s important to you about achieving this value in life? What do you get out of helping others? Do you currently help others in your job? In other areas of your life? How? When? Why is this rewarding to you? How does this feed who you really are?

Think about these answers carefully, but, remember, this is just a snapshot in time. It’s how you’re feeling about your life and activities like work and values today – it may shift some on another day, and that’s why it’s neat to create these lists multiple times. But, the answers are indeed revealing. Your core values should be consistent. And, if they aren’t present in your current work, maybe there’s some room for you to explore other options, other work or activities that align with what you say is most important to you in life.

Keep thinking and making lists of values. Review them to see where the patterns lie. Also, check for negative statements – while it’s important to know what you don’t want to do, what you don’t value, this type of list is helpful for moving forward. When you really see what you love to do, acknowledge what you most value, then you can make some steps to get more of such activities in your work (and personal!) life. Why compromise when you know what makes you happy? You’ll be able to chart out a path that is rich and meaningful to you that is rooted in your core values.