Our core values are some of the most important aspects about who we are.

Our values are our deepest level of programming. That means what we value motivates us to do things. We also make judgments about how we spend our time based on our values.

That’s why living our values is crucial to our success and happiness. Consider this: when your activities are congruent with what you value – you’re motivated to do them. AND you feel happy when you’re doing those things.

People commonly ask me how I got into coaching. I believe I get that question often because people see the fun I’m having doing this work. Coaching is joyful because the action of coaching people and even some of the ancillary activities that come with being an executive coach (like writing this post each week) align with my values.

For me, I value excitement in my career. New things are exciting to me. Helping people navigate and overcome challenges is exciting to me. Guess what… every coaching client and even every coaching appointment is new and all of them are centered around a challenge to take on. In fact, I only work with clients who are exciting to me. Frankly, you wouldn’t want to partner with a coach that’s not excited about you!

I am motivated to do this work because doing the actual work of coaching leaders, learning new skills to keep me sharp and even doing business building activities are congruent with what I value in my career. It drives me to get out of bed each day and do things – often times hard – because it connects with my values.

To get to this point, I asked myself the following five questions. These questions helped me align the activities in work that I do with the values in work that I have. It helps me be both successful and happy. They can work for you, too!

• 1.What are your core values in your career? (you can also ask this of the other pillars of your life – relationships, wealth, health, personal growth, spirituality)

The first step to living your values is knowing your core values in the different areas of your life. We all have values, it’s a matter of having conscious awareness around what are your core values. You want to have a ranked list of your values so that you know what activities will light them up.

If you’re interested in learning more about your values, DM me on Instagram HERE.

• 2.What activities do you normally do that light-up your values?

Once you know what your core values are, you’ll have awareness around what you do normally that lights them up. You’ll notice that certain activities are motivating because it aligns with your top values. For example, coaching people – the actual coaching conversation – hits a few of my top values.

You can even go back through your calendar from the previous week to notice what is aligned. And, look forward to the next few days to see what activities you’re super motivated by.

• 3.Which of your normal activities drain you?

Values motivate us and they also help us evaluate the activities we’ve done. If we do too many activities that are counter to our core values, we will likely have a more negative slant around how we spend our time.

Consider your career, if the vast majority or even all of the activities that you do are inconsistent with what you value, you are probably not going to have a good opinion about your job. And, you’re not going to be naturally motivated. That means, you’re either going to not be as successful or you’re going to push through and become overstressed or burned out.

• 4.What are activities that hit your values?

Before I became a coach and then an executive coach, I did some soul searching. I considered what career activities gave me the most joy & fulfillment. I found that the consultation process with a client gave me energy. Figuring out challenges for business owners was fun. Thinking creatively and using my previous experiences excited me.

• 5.Where can you incorporate more of those things into your routines?

Here’s the fun part. Once you know what your core values are in your career & what activities are aligned with your values, you can begin to design your career to over index on those activities. You might also stop or leverage activities that are not in congruence with your values. 

When you do more activities that light up your values, you begin to truly live your values and experience natural motivation. The end result is greater success and deep happiness.