Aligning Your Career to Your Core Values.

by catherine | Nov 4, 2018 | Core Beliefs

Aligning Your Career to Your Core Values.

Your workplace Is one of the critical areas in your life to establish balance. For no other reason, other than the fact that you spend at least 1/3 of your life there.Aligning Your Career to Your Core Values can only bring you peace and fulfillment.

When we have balance in all areas of our lives, we have a spring in our step and a sense of vitality. Unfortunately, as human beings, we make the common mistake of improving on areas where we already have abundance. For instance, if you have an excellent relationship with your family and friends. You may well put more time into those relationships. Your health may not be as balanced. You may not eat the most nutritious foods for your health.

By concentrating on one area, it is very possible that you can create the conditions to make your life even more on balance. You’re making your life out of whack. It’s only by bringing in every aspect of your life into balance you will be able to manifest everything that you need.

How Does Your Career Define You?

You are never defined by your career choices even though you spend an awful lot of time at work. Society demands we achieve a certain level of professional attainment, but it doesn’t make us the people we are.

Because our whole cultural background, at home and at school centers on the importance of having a career, we don’t always look at the aspect correctly. Your job is not a broader reflection of the person you are. It doesn’t reflect your capabilities as a human being. In short, it is a circumstance that is changeable.

Other People Want Your Career to Define You?

Whenever you are socializing with someone you have not met before quite often the second question after your name is

“What do you do?”

In a lot of cases, that question actually means – how much money do you earn? Very often the person asking these questions is merely finding a point of reference to stereotype you.

Ditch The Stereotypes.

To be happy in the workplace, you need challenges. I’m not talking about the problems that stress you out and make you ill. I am talking about the challenges that make you think and overcome obstacles and give you a sense of satisfaction. This sense of fulfillment tends to overspill to other areas of your life. You go home energized to enjoy your relaxation to be able to go to enjoy the next day.

If you bounce out of bed in the morning and can’t wait to get started then this level of energy will affect other aspects of your life. You will more likely eat a healthy breakfast. This is because you will want to give your body the best chance to do its best all day.

On the other hand, if you fall out of bed dreading another monotonous, dreary unfulfilling day, then you have little energy to spare. You are tired and drained and exhausted before you begin the day.

Our Careers Provide Us with Security and Certainty.

Our careers or rather our salary gives us a level of comfort and security because we know how much money we have to spend on bills. This influence is far more than a material effect. If we do not follow our passions will never be sure about our place in the world. Going through day after day with a predictable routine and no option to change it is tedious.

What is your Perspective?

Some people thrive on the challenge of adventure and thinking on their feet very rapidly. Other people are totally overwhelmed with this. You may be creative and feel bound by systems and logic. Understanding this will go some way to achieving balance in your career. You can read the previous articles on how to align your core values so that they work with your job.

A fulfilling career can give us higher status and more prestige and of course more money. It is possible to have all those and not have a fulfilling career. It’s what’s known as ramming a square peg into a round hole.

Power versus Force

Power always comes from within. When you are aligning yourself with your core values, you begin to shine. Other people notice this and are drawn to you automatically.

Force, on the other hand, is when people backstab their way to the top. During your working career, you will have seen people who attack everyone in the workforce. They waste time engaging in toxic gossip. They think this makes them more powerful! In fact, it makes them appear more pathetic.
They have no real power to force other people to do things apart from fear.

Force doesn’t make connections.

One of the advantages of having a fulfilling career is the connections that you make. I’m not talking about the relationships that allow you to have promotions or the links that give you the possibility of a new partial golf course. The connections which are essential involve relationships. Such as sharing a walk in the park at lunchtime. Inviting friends from work to share a drink in the pub on the way home to celebrate small successes or large ones. Or just to laugh.

Your work colleagues will not necessarily become your family, but you should have an opportunity to make profound connections. These deep connections will allow a balance to flow in many areas of your life.

When people are frustrated and angry at work, this pressure often spills out of the work environment. You take out your anger and frustration on your family because those are close to you. You may well stuff your face with sugar at the end of the day just to get an illusion of comfort

The result of this is more negativity and this, in turn, leads to more disconnection. Sometimes we actively partake in this disconnection by pushing away family and friends who are trying to help us. Sometimes we turn to outside elements such as alcohol to fulfill what we are not getting from our personal relationships.

Having a sustainable career is like any other lasting relationship in life. It requires personal growth. It demands we step outside of our comfort zone and have the courage to try things. Even if we fail, it shouldn’t send us into spiraling depression.

Failure is a part of life and an essential part of growth. We cannot grow without trying things and failing and picking ourselves up and starting again.

Plan B

Sometimes that starting again means looking once again at your personal core values and deciding are they right for now. Your core values are designed to last for life but as we move through life our perspective changes.

For instance, in my 20s my main concern was both money and traveling. Although I did travel for two years, my primary objective was money. I started with nothing. Once I was 30 I had enough money to buy a house with cash! I didn’t actually buy a house. The money itself satisfied my need for security. I could change my core values because I learned I was secure enough to make more money always.
I desired to be of service or give something back. This sense of gratitude has never left me. The desire to be of assistance has been fulfilled in many ways and is still a core value 30 years later.

From this point on I spent my life in the service industries. I would not have been happy as a banker. Being a banker may well fulfil a lot of people but it would not of fulfilled me. It was not aligned with my core values of service.

This is why you should define your own core values so you can live by them and find peace.

Inner Peace

Your workplace Is one of the critical areas in your life to establish balance. For no other reason, other than the fact that you spend at least 1/3 of your life there.

When we have balance in all areas of our lives, we have a spring in our step and a sense of vitality. Unfortunately, as human beings, we make the common mistake of improving on areas where we already have abundance. For instance, if you have an excellent relationship with your family and friends. You may well put more time into those relationships. Your health may not be as balanced. You may not eat the most nutritious foods for your health.

By concentrating on one area, it is very possible that you can create the conditions to make your life even more on balance. You’re making your life out of whack. It’s only by bringing in every aspect of your life into balance you will be able to manifest everything that you need.

How Does Your Career Define You?

You are never defined by your career choices even though you spend an awful lot of time at work. Society demands we achieve a certain level of professional attainment, but it doesn’t make us the people we are.

Because our whole cultural background, at home and at school centers on the importance of having a career, we don’t always look at the aspect correctly. Your job is not a broader reflection of the person you are. It doesn’t reflect your capabilities as a human being. In short, it is a circumstance that is changeable.

Other People Want Your Career to Define You?

Whenever you are socializing with someone you have not met before quite often the second question after your name is

“What you do?”

In a lot of cases, that question actually means – how much money do you earn? Very often the person asking these questions is merely finding a point of reference to stereotype you.

Ditch The Stereotypes.

To be happy in the workplace, you need challenges. I’m not talking about the problems that stress you out and make you ill. I am talking about the challenges that make you think and overcome obstacles and give you a sense of satisfaction. This sense of fulfillment tends to overspill to other areas of your life. You go home energized to enjoy your relaxation to be able to go to enjoy the next day.

If you bounce out of bed in the morning and can’t wait to get started then this level of energy will affect other aspects of your life. You will more likely eat a healthy breakfast. This is because you will want to give your body the best chance to do its best all day.

On the other hand, if you fall out of bed dreading another monotonous, dreary unfulfilling day, then you have little energy to spare. You are tired and drained and exhausted before you begin the day.

Our Careers Provide Us with Security and Certainty.

Our careers or rather our salary gives us a level of comfort and security because we know how much money we have to spend on bills. This influence is far more than a material effect. If we do not follow our passions will never be sure about our place in the world. Going through day after day with a predictable routine and no option to change it is tedious.

What is your Perspective?

Some people thrive on the challenge of adventure and thinking on their feet very rapidly. Other people are totally overwhelmed with this. You may be creative and feel bound by systems and logic. Understanding this will go some way to achieving balance in your career. You can read the previous articles on how to align your core values so that they work with your job.

A fulfilling career can give us higher status and more prestige and of course more money. It is possible to have all those and not have a fulfilling career. It’s what’s known as ramming a square peg into a round hole.

Power versus Force

Power always comes from within. When you are aligning yourself with your core values, you begin to shine. Other people notice this and are drawn to you automatically.

Force, on the other hand, is when people backstab their way to the top. During your working career, you will have seen people who attack everyone in the workforce. They waste time engaging in toxic gossip. They think this makes them more powerful! In fact, it makes them appear more pathetic.
They have no real power to force other people to do things apart from fear.

Force doesn’t make Connections.

One of the advantages of having a fulfilling career is the connections that you make. I’m not talking about the relationships that allow you to have promotions or the links that give you the possibility of a new partial golf course. The connections which are essential involve relationships. Such as sharing a walk in the park at lunchtime. Inviting friends from work to share a drink in the pub on the way home to celebrate small successes or large ones. Or just to laugh.

Your work colleagues will not necessarily become your family, but you should have an opportunity to make profound connections. These deep connections will allow a balance to flow in many areas of your life.

Career Frustrations Spill Out Onto Other Areas Of Your Life

When people are frustrated and angry at work, this pressure often spills out of the work environment. You take out your anger and frustration on your family because those are close to you. You may well stuff your face with sugar at the end of the day just to get an illusion of comfort

The result of this is more negativity and this, in turn, leads to more disconnection. Sometimes we actively partake in this disconnection by pushing away family and friends who are trying to help us. Sometimes we turn to outside elements such as alcohol to fulfill what we are not getting from our personal relationships.

Having a sustainable career is like any other lasting relationship in life. It requires personal growth. It demands we step outside of our comfort zone and have the courage to try things. Even if we fail, it shouldn’t send us into spiraling depression.

Bring On The Failing

Failure is a part of life and an essential part of growth. We cannot grow without trying things and failing and picking ourselves up and starting again.Sometimes that’s starting again means looking once again at your personal core values and deciding are they right for now. Your core values are designed to last for life but as we move through life our perspective changes.

For instance, in my 20s my main concern was both money and traveling. Although I did travel for two years, my primary objective was money. I started with nothing. Once I was 30 I had enough money to buy a house with cash! I didn’t actually buy a house. The money itself satisfied my need for security. I could change my core values because I learned I was secure enough to make more money always.
I desired to be of service or give something back. This sense of gratitude has never left me. The desire to be of assistance has been fulfilled in many ways and is still a core value 30 years later.

From this point on I spent my life in the service industries. I would not have been happy as a banker. Being a banker may well fulfil a lot of people but it would not of fulfilled me. It was not aligned with my core values of service.

This is why you should define your own core values so you can live by them and find peace.

These posts May Interest You:

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and our Sense of Fulfilment Part 2

Core Value Examples Help Us To Grow

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and our Sense of Fulfilment Part 2

by catherine | Nov 1, 2018 | Core Beliefs

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and our Sense of Fulfilment Part 2

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and our Sense of Fulfilment Part 2, is today’s post. Click here to read yesterday’s post, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and our Sense of Fulfilment Part 1.Yesterday the earlier needs we discussed were deficiency needs. The basic needs of the pyramid need to be satisfied before you can rise to the self-fulfillment needs at the top of the pyramid. The order is not rigid you may well fulfill level 4 before you are satisfied in level 2.

The top of the pyramid was initially self-actualization. Maslow’s completed his research in the 30s and 40s. This research was before and during the Second World War. This was a very different world the world we live in today. The original pyramid had a huge impact on educational policies in the United States. What is generally forgotten is that in the 60s and 70s he developed cognitive aesthetic and transcendent needs. Although in many ways these extra levels added credibility to his work, history has overlooked them!

Level 5 Cognitive Needs

Cognitive needs are a desire to learn more, to expand and increase your knowledge. Curiosity and exploration of the first steps here you are curious about things. Once you have a curiosity, you have the potential to explore the need for up meaning in life.

Aesthetic levels.

These are a desire to enjoy beautiful things. These can be in nature or a sculpture.

Self-actualization needs

In the definition of Maslow, self-actualization is realizing your own personal potential. This, can be in any field. It can be achieved in the corporate world as easily as it can be achieved in the physical world by sportsmen. Anyone can complete the path of Self-actualisation.

Once one has achieved self-actualization according to Maslow, you have Understood the meaning in life which is essential to you.

What Really Motivates You

At the end of the day, all of Maslow’s research came down to what motivates people. For instance, when you purchase something you probably think you need it. I’m not talking about coffee in the supermarket I am talking about new shoes, or clothes or material things.

You may well think you bought the new shoes because you like the color. The chances are you make that purchase as a result of a subconscious reason. You may well be trying to outdo your neighbor across the road. There is no chance you will understand or remember the reason for that.

95% of what we think about comes from the subconscious mind. Sadly, these thoughts belong to other people, and they have planted in your mind subliminally. They have been put there by the things you heard and made assumptions about and long buried.

Buying a new pair of shoes may well remind you of a sensation you felt when you watched the film the Wizard of Oz. There is a very famous scene of a pair of red court shoes in the movie. New may not even remember seeing the film and certainly don’t remember the shoes. I will bet my last cent that you remember how you felt when you watch that film.

In 1962 Maslow wrote self-actualization could be measured by looking at a person’s “peak experiences.” Having this experience means a person sees the world as it is, they expand their divine consciousness and experience a sense of joy, bliss, wonderment, and euphoria.

What Motivates People to Achieve Self-Actualisation?

The fact is although we can all achieve this potential very few of us will do so. In 1970 Maslow estimated that 2% of people would reach the state of full potential.

Certainly, in today’s world where more and more people are waking up to their spirituality, the chances are that much more people will achieve this.

Also to some extent, the methodology of Maslow is questionable? This means he didn’t use quantifiable scientific measuring.

Maslow’s research group were 18 people, including himself. He considered that these 18 people had realized self-actualization. These people included Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, and Beethoven. Also, he only added to women in this group of 18 which is one in nine. Today that would be regarded as sexist. The women he included were Mother Teresa and Eleanor Roosevelt.

The characteristics of self-actualization

1. They look at life as it really is. They do not have a need for certainty.
2. They accept themselves fully. Because they do not judge they can also accept other people for what they are.
3. They have ditched their own ego. They are problem centered rather than ego centered.
4. They are spontaneous in everything they do rather than being rigid.
5. They are extremely creative.
6. They have a highly developed sense of humor.
7. They observed life objectively
8. They don’t conform to cultural stereotypes
9. They are capable of establishing relationships which are deeply satisfying on every level.
10. They have a tendency to put the needs of others before themselves. They are aware of the collective consciousness
11. They have a highly developed need for privacy.
12. Politically they tend to be democratic
13. They have a defined their own personal core value and tend to have strong ethics.

In today’s world, the main stumbling block would be the fact that he did not have any control group and he included himself in the group. Which is somewhat of a subjective decision.

There could be arguments to be said that poverty defines people who are self actualised. Van Gogh didn’t sell a painting in his lifetime he died in abject poverty yet his paintings are incredible.

Certainly, I have spent over seven years in India and in practical terms this hierarchy doesn’t stand up.

They tended to listen to their own inner soul rather than listening to outside influences. They avoided gameplaying and reverted to honesty. They valued hard work and took their responsibilities seriously. They took responsibilities for their own actions as a life choice.

None of them were concerned with what other people thought they were secure enough in their own ideas not to be challenged by people who thought differently. They all adhered to their own personal core values. Which allowed them to define the people that they were and live by those principles.

These posts May Interest You:

Aligning Your Career to Your Core Values.

Core Value Examples Help Us To Grow

by catherine | Oct 25, 2018 | Core Beliefs

Do You Know What You Believe In?

Do you know who you really are?

You can’t have any self-growth in your life without an element of self-knowledge. Knowing what makes you tick, how your thoughts and feelings come about and how they affect your behavior. Knowing your self, helps you to understand what drives you, it allows you to align yourself to your personal values.

Daniel Kahneman in his book “thinking, fast and slow” points out he still has the same thoughts he had before he began studying human behavior.

Except for some effects that I attribute mostly to age, my intuitive thinking is just as prone to overconfidence, extreme predictions, and the planning fallacy as it was before I made a study of these issues. I have improved only in my ability to recognize situations in which errors are likely….And I have made much more progress in recognizing the errors of others than my own.

The process of self-discovery can be painful. It can be tough to root out all words are thoughts and our emotions. We have to go back we have to stop with the words that come out of our mouths and work backward to the emotions that created them.

Without discovering your true self, you will not be able to realize your full potential. But once you start the step of self-awareness, you will begin to understand why you feel the way you do and how this causes your actions.

It’s essential for you to realize that just because you recognize that this person is you, it doesn’t mean you have to change it. As with everything in life the choice is yours. Having self-acceptance without judgment and without change is possible.

What Are Your Core Values

I would say that working out your core values is the easiest and least painful way to start. It’s only difficult because they are unique to you. You cannot look at anybody else for inspiration or copy their values. They are your individual essence. These values guide your behavior and act as a moral compass.

Unfortunately, most of us are not aware of the things that are really valuable to us. Many of us have built our values around what society wants, or peer pressure wants, what social media wants.

We also inherit values from our culture. We’ve inherited them from our family friends and teachers. Not everybody questions these values.

What are core values and why are they important

Your core values is an eponymous term. They describe things at the very core of you your essence. They are your fundamental beliefs. They help you decide what is right and wrong for you. For instance, if you believe that you are an altruist, you shouldn’t be working in a company or corporation who values only profit.

Examples of core values

Core values are such things as a sense of responsibility, loyalty, compassion, courage, tolerance, reliability, open-mindedness, fairness and many more. Just reading them should give you the idea that these are big ideas.

Unfortunately, you can immediately see how this can be problematic. What you see is compassion and what your best friend sees as compassion could be two very very different things. These core values define you, but compassion may drive you to act in one way. Different interactions may make your best friend react in a completely different way.

The important thing is that we know our core values so they can motivate our life. Our values are the very formation the building blocks of our thoughts. They form an understanding of what we perceive to be the truth about life.

These ideas are then reinforced by feelings and emotions which can turn our perceptions into a passion. This is when the magic happens. This is when we achieve more synchronicity in life, and things flow much easier.

Everything is Energy

Everything is energy, and by committing ourselves to our core values, we emit energy. If you are thinking about loyalty or open-mindedness, then this will, in turn, attract personal success in like-minded people.

You can’t make informed choices without knowing what your core values are. Not understanding what you stand for is what causes a lot of tension and a lot of people’s lives. If we don’t know what’s essential in our life how can we live by those principles?

Most of us have it sometime agonized over the decision we have to make. Usually, this decision is only tricky because we have refused to acknowledge or made any attempt to understand our core values.

Once we have isolated the principles which are important to us, we can start to implement strategies to defend those principles. Once we have aligned ourselves to our core values we find all sorts of opportunities opening up for us.

You may well feel that you don’t receive everything you want in this life. The question is if you don’t uphold your values with 100% conviction then how can you get a 100% return. We have to hold ourselves accountable to our core values.

Accountability is a Core Belief

If you are not accountable, then you will always be almost happy, almost rich almost fulfilled, etc.

On the other hand, if we align ourselves fully to our values than they act like a magnet. They draw people to us with the same value.

We can maintain the high level of our energy because everyone around us has the same energy. Everybody’s energy levels do dip for lots of reasons. We may not be inspired because we are tired. But having people around us with the same energy prevents that dip. These people can help us work together as a team to achieve what we want.

In conclusion, isolating and identifying your core values is the same thing as identifying your passions. It’s about the things that are really important to you. The things that would create great tension in your life if you had to go against them.

This is so much more fulfilling than wasting time and energy on things that really are not important.

“Never let the things that matter to you the most, but the mercy of those people that don’t matter!”

Things can’t just happen to you if you take control and understanding yourself is the first step. Tomorrow I will discuss the ways that you can learn to isolate your core values and make your life easier.

These posts May Interest You:

Aligning Your Career to Your Core Values.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and our Sense of Fulfilment Part 2