Values are an essential part of a career coach's toolkit.  By working together to clarify a client's values, a coach can explore the fit of current and potential work roles. 

Typically, our happiness in the work environment is a function of our resonance with the actual values of their employer. 

Why actual values and not expressed values?  Any of us who have worked in the corporate world can recognize the difference between the values to which a company aspires and the ones under which it actually operates.  For example, a company might state that it is family-friendly, when in fact it doesn't offer paid maternity or paternity leave, part-time or work-at-home options for parents, or sick days that can be used to care for a sick child.

While clarifying one's values is important when determining whether to make a career change, it is also an important - and often ignored - part of our daily lives.

Why should we clarify our values?

Our values serve as our guideposts.  They help to govern what types of goals we set, and what types of lives we aspire to lead.  These goals and aspirations affect the types of actions we take every day to create our ideal lives.

For example, one of my values is living life to its fullest.  In support of that value, I set a goal of using my free time to support my happiness.  Next I did a quick inventory of how I spend my time, and how those activities contribute to my happiness.  I realized that mindlessly watching TV comprised a large percentage of my free time - and did very little to make me happy. In fact, sitting on the couch hour after hour looking for the next best show to watch made me unhappy.  As a result, I canceled my cable service.

The side effect of the quick values exercise above is that I am saving hundreds of dollars each year that can be used to support my values.  For example, I can save to provide a strong education for my daughter.  

Why didn't I do a values inventory hundreds of hours of TV ago?  Because I had bought into "go with the flow."  In today's society, we often do as others around us do.  We make use of the same tools and activities that are assumed to bring us happiness.  Two that come immediately to mind are watching TV and shopping.  Given today's rising obesity rates, I'll add eating to the list.

What's the problem with going with the flow?  By leading an unexamined - or unconscious - life, we take shortcuts that don't take into account who we are as individuals and what makes us tick.  As a result, each of us takes hundreds of shortcuts each week that sap our time, money, and energy.

Imagine, instead, a life in which you consciously established what was most important to you, and invested all of your time and energy in support of those values.  How would it feel to spend each moment working on something that was important to you; each dollar on something that made you uniquely happy; each minute of your free time fulfilling your dreams?  How happy would you be?

Inspired?  Start at the beginning.  Start with what's important to you.  Start by identifying your values.