My Job Stinks – How to Relate Career Values to a Great Career

Do you feel like your job stinks?  Often, clients feel they have to trade something from within themselves in exchange for a paycheck. I’d like to argue that the opposite is true.

We so often trade our values for steady employment, thinking we need to in order to stay happy…..that the paycheck alone will provide the happiness. But, the opposite is true. When you can align your values to your work, you will maximize productivity, be happier, and find more success. Let’s take a look at the role that values play in our careers.

• Values are the foundation for how we make decisions.
• Values are the genesis of our intrinsic motivation.
• Values represent who we are as a person as we approach our daily tasks.

Have you ever really assessed your values? Let me explain how it works. Career values are the life values that you bring to your work. For instance, a young adventurous emerging professional may value travel (possibly satisfied by an outside sales role) and a high salary. When that individual gets married and has their first child, chances are their life values have shifted toward their nuclear family. This life change will affect our life values, and thus our career values. I’ll bet that person’s primary career values have shifted, and now include stability and a short commute.

Values change over time, with major life events, maturity or contemplation. If you have graduated college recently, or recently been married, divorced, or have moved to a new location, or even lost a parent or a job, take a look at your values. What’s really important to you in life and how does that translate to happiness on the job?

Once you know what’s important to you, you have a criteria set for career decision-making. Like magic! Now the task becomes finding a work environment that will reinforce your career values. In our earlier example, this individual should be looking for a company that rewards loyalty, is close to home, and allows for some flexibility via recognizing the importance of work-life balance.

I’d like to help you assess your career values, and find an employer who will reward you for them.  It’s wonderful to watch clients see how motivated and inspired they can be in their jobs.  Change “My job stinks” to “Wow, this doesn’t feel like work!”

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Julie LaCroix, M.A.,  has a private practice in Newport Beach, CA,  which serves adults of all ages looking for help with how they got “stuck” in their careers.  Maybe it’s the wrong job, maybe it’s the wrong field altogether.  Or maybe you just don’t know what else is out there.  Her practice is designed to help you, wherever you are in your career journey. She earned a B.A. in Psychology from UCI and an M.A. in Educational Clinical Counseling from Azusa Pacific University.  Email Julie at www.julielacroix.com.