You may have received the download for discovering your values when you subscribed to nuggets – so some of the following may sound familiar.
“If you don’t stick to your values when they are being tested, they’re not values, they’re hobbies.” Steven Reiss
„I think the world would be a lot better off if more people were to define themselves in terms of their own standards and values and not what other people said or thought about them.“ Hillary Clinton
Values are a booster for your success, or they slow you down completely in reaching your goals. There are good reasons why you should make sure that your goals and values work hand-in-hand.
Your values are what is really important to you in life. In other words, there is always conscious intention behind what you do. Values are very individual and of course they change in the course of life or they may acquire a different importance; "Having fun" probably looks different at the age of 19 than at the age of 48. Perhaps "Health" is at a higher position at the age of 55 than at the age of 20. There are no good or bad values, but there are values which are either more or less helpful in the context of your personal goal achievement.
Let me share a client story to illustrate: A client works 70 to 80 hours a week – sometimes on the weekends. He has a family with two young children. As one of his most important values he defined “Family”. So, an obvious question to ask is how this plays out for him. Has he put “Family” on top of his list because he thinks this is where it should be? Or is “Family” really one of his top values and every day, every week he has the feeling that he devotes too little time and attention to the people who are the most important ones in his life. If the latter is the case, he is very likely to frequently feel irritated and dissatisfied. This irritation and frustration will sooner or later show up in his interactions with his team, his peers and his manager.
Reasons, why goals and values should be aligned
Why do some people achieve their goals and others don‘t? Why do you achieve some goals with ease and others you find extremely difficult to attain? The energy that you need to achieve your goal is mostly activated unconsciously. This happens when your goal is what you really want. Goals that you only set with your conscious mind and that run counter to your values do not have a chance. Rather, you drive with one foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake.
If you act in accordance with your personal values, work will give you pleasure and feel good despite possible ups and downs. When you act against your values, you are working against yourself. Few people who are in this situation are aware of this; it can lead to frustration, exhaustion, burnout or other negative symptoms.
Your inner Compass
If you know your values, you have an inner compass that accompanies you on the way to your goal. For example, you will be able to make better decisions with more ease because you have an instinct for what is right for you.
What to do if the value and goal don't match? One solution may be to adjust or nudge one or more goal.
Wishing you a successful week with confidence … Claudia
Want to find out what your values are? If you have not had a chance to download the “Value Work” when you signed up for the newsletter, send me a note and I will send it to you.
Find my “Management Gold – Nuggets” useful? Then let me know and share with others.
If you find this inspiring and you would like to explore further, I am delighted to meet with you for a 30-minute-free-of-charge-info-session.