Is your idea aligned with your values?
There are many influences that determine whether an idea really ‘works’. Often overlooked, aligning your work values with your personal values is a crucial factor that determines success and happiness. If your idea and the work you do is not totally aligned with your values… your idea will not work, you will not flow.
Our values define us, guide us, and provide us with meaning in our daily lives. When you know your values you know who you are, what motivates you and what is truly important to you.
Here's how to find out your Top 4 values:
Buy these cards from Common Cause Foundation. They will cost you about £25.
There are 58 cards for 58 values - see the Values Map below:
Designed by the Common Cause Foundation: drawing (with permission) on the original research of Professor Shalom Schwartz. Download a PDF of The Values Map here.
The cards are tactile and colourful and easy to use. To help you select and deselect cards, here's some guidance:
Think about what makes you truly happy. When do you feel you are living life to the full? What fires you up?
Think about how you spend your time, what you talk and think about the most, and what you spend your money on
Be honest. Don’t censor yourself or include things you think you ‘should’ write down
Also think about what makes you angry or upset. What values are behind these feelings?
Whittle the cards down to 4. Put your list of Top 4 values in a place you can see them everyday; on the wall, a notice board, a post-it, as a screen-saver. Live with the 4 words for a while and see if they feel right
If your idea and the work you do is fully aligned with your values, work will not be work, work will flow, work will be natural, work will be effortless.
Think about your 4 core values as 4 legs of a chair. (This analogy is from a friend of mine called Danny). Stick to all 4 values in everything you do and you will always be grounded and stable. Ignore any one of your values and you will wobble and fall over. Simple and true.
In a sentence what’s the takeaway for you here?… If you want to give your idea a greater chance of success, make sure you embed your values within the work you do.
