We all have core values that resonate and make us tick! It’s who we are and what’s important in every aspect of our life including our careers and workplace. When we are aligned with our core values, it seems as if life is flowing easily and when there is an obstacle, we overcome it with ease. When we are not aligned, it’s just the opposite! We feel like we are swimming upstream and life is just darn hard! Obviously, we want life to be easier than harder and ensuring our decisions in career and any area of life are aligned with our core values is the key.

Step One: What are your core values?

There are a plethora of core values that we feel we all “should” have but what you are your top 5-7? This is important since these are like your guiding lights in decision making that have an enormous impact on our lives. How do you know what your TRUE top 5-7 values? A suggestion is to write down your top 5-7 for the next 7-14 days to see which ones repeat. After the exercise, you’ll definitely know!  Some of my core values are freedom, honesty, integrity, and harmony.

Here is a partial list of values. A list of 50 values are included at the end of the post. 

• Authenticity

• Achievement

• Balance

• Compassion

• Challenge

• Community

• Contribution

• Creativity

• Fairness

• Fun

• Growth

• Happiness

• Honesty

• Influence

• Inner Harmony

• Kindness

• Knowledge

• Leadership

• Learning

• Love

• Meaningful Work

• Openness

• Respect

• Responsibility

Step Two: Are your core values aligned?

Are your core values aligned in your career, workplace and all areas of life? Do you take your values into consideration when deciding career goals and aspirations or making bold career decisions? One of the first topics I discuss with clients is to identify their core values since there needs to be alignment which makes the discussion much more productive and meaningful for the client. When core values are aligned, the answers and direction are clear.

Step Three: What Can we do if we are not aligned?

There are probably some areas where we are not aligned with our core values. If we are not aligned, we need to determine if it’s something we can fix. All circumstances can be fixed, it’s just a matter of the degree of alignment. When we do not address this alignment, it will gnaw at you which is your indicator that something’s gotta give!! How can you rectify the issue? Just ask yourself what needs to change to return to alignment. Don’t over complicate it and keep it simple.

Aligning your career, decisions, goals, relationships with your core values makes life flow so much easier! The first step is to identify your TRUE core values, the second step is to verify alignment and the third step is to adjust if needed. Keep it simple! Once you are aligned, future decisions will become much easier since you’ll start taking into consideration what makes you really tick!

List of other core values:  Obtained from jamesclear.com/core-values

• Authenticity

• Achievement

• Adventure

• Authority

• Autonomy

• Balance

• Beauty

• Boldness

• Compassion

• Challenge

• Citizenship

• Community

• Competency

• Contribution

• Creativity

• Curiosity

• Determination

• Fairness

• Faith

• Fame

• Friendships

• Fun

• Growth

• Happiness

• Honesty

• Humor

• Influence

• Inner Harmony

• Justice

• Kindness

• Knowledge

• Leadership

• Learning

• Love

• Loyalty

• Meaningful Work

• Openness

• Optimism

• Peace

• Pleasure

• Poise

• Popularity

• Recognition

• Religion

• Reputation

• Respect

• Responsibility

• Security

• Self-Respect

• Service

• Spirituality

• Stability

• Success

• Status

• Trustworthiness

• Wealth

• Wisdom