Your values are what drives you, and the things that you believe are important in your life. They drive your priorities and where typically you will devote your time and energy. You may or may not be aware of your values and you may not have ever thought about them deeply or clearly articulated them.

We are all unique and we hold different values, beliefs and attitudes, and they play an integral role in how we approach things in our day-to-day life. Values fundamentally influence your beliefs, attitudes, behaviours and ultimately the results you are striving for. Whether you realise or not, your values will also play a significant role in your life and career choices and how you execute on your goals to make this happen.

Now anyone can have a can-do and positive attitude when it comes to achieving goals and objectives. But is this enough when working towards your life and career goals?

What if you are just going with the flow and not sure of why you are making certain choices?

What if you deep down you don’t believe in why you are making some choices or feeling like you are caving into pressure from others?

In these cases you might have a degree of success and be willing to navigate your way through to the end, but ultimately, you might feel like you are not doing what is right for you and deeply meaningful to you in the long run.

When you are connected to our values and they aligned with what you want to achieve in life and including your career, you will find you will develop clarity and confidence to make important decisions and choose your next steps.

You will also be able to recognise when you are veering off track and if you are starting to unreasonably compromise on certain things.

By staying connected and true to your values, you can ensure that your choices support what is deeply important to you and ultimately achieve the results that you really want.

When you are not clear on your values, your actions are not aligned with what is important to you.

When you have not defined your values, it can be difficult to find direction.

You then run the risk of unknowingly operating in ways that undermine what is most important to you.

As a result, you can get that feeling that something is just not quite right but you cannot put your finger on it!

Using the ‘List of Values’ in the next lecture, reflect and identify the values that really resonate with you personally and also the values important to you in the context of your goals.