The process of values clarification is important to career choice and success. Identifying your values is a way to filter down all of the irrelevant junk and get to what really matters to you.

Chances are your values will shift through your lifetime. There are times when a whole new perspective may come into view during major life changes. It is then that you will work to accommodate a new sense of meaning in your life. Those times are when it is especially important to reevaluate your values to help you keep your priorities straight.

If there is one thing that will cause you to quit a job on the spot, it’s when your job or your employer is in conflict with your values. Also, there are few things in life that bring such joy as knowing that you are contributing to the world in a way that meets your unique set of values.

A little exploration and reflection will help you list and prioritize your most important values. A work life with many rewarding experiences is the payoff.

Here is a quick, free values assessment online. Be sure to print the summary sheet to add to your career development file or binder for future review.

Review your summary sheet in times of stress and controversy to help you recognize why a particular situation is getting to you. You will likely find that one of your high priority values has been compromised. Often identifying the value underlying the issue is half the battle! From there you may be able to communicate better from a standpoint of the root cause.

An exercise to build up energy about what you want to achieve in life is to reflect on your value summary sheet then define what you want and record it in great detail. Remember this, it is important to have fun with this exercise! Don’t worry about how you are going to do it or begin to feel bad because you haven’t done it yet. Just enjoy the process of defining what you want.

This is an interesting story where Danny Kofke talks briefly about his strategies for thriving on a teacher’s salary. He mentions too that he feels like a rich man because he enjoys his work and gets to live in a way that supports his personal value system. That is career development gold, my friends!