Not Fulfilling Your Goals?

Perhaps it's because they're not aligned with your values!

Inspired by a presentation I put together this week, I started thinking about how important it is to know what you want, what your strengths are (take the test here if you're unsure, knowing what your blind spots are and what is important to you.

The presentation was based around making authentic goals and change, knowing what you stand for, what you want to achieve and get out of life, instead of doing things because you think you should.

What happens quite often, especially when it comes to our careers is we start thinking about what the next step is, we should start expanding our team or take on more clients or take a promotion, but fundamentally, we aren't really sure what we want or which direction we want to take.

Because we think we should, we go ahead, often only to regret our commitment and potentially resent ourselves and our colleagues. This is why it is imperative to know what you want and why.

If you don't already know your values, this article can help you define them.

If you do know them, are you living by them? Are they aligned to what you're doing and the choices you're making or not making?

I stumbled upon my values before I even tried to define them consciously, when I became aware of how annoyed I was becoming by certain things. Instead of thinking it was just me overreacting, I realised I only felt this way when what I was doing was in opposition to my values.

When people would be dishonest or not truly transparent about something, it really triggers me and I discovered that honesty was one of my highest values. Honesty drives my beliefs and is the catalyst for all my choices.

Since uncovering this value, authenticity has come up as one of my other high values. Although similar, how I see authenticity is vulnerability and speaking your truth, which I find very hard NOT to do (which sometimes gets me into trouble!). This value inspires my work, not endorsing or supporting things I don't believe in or see the value in.

Even if you know your values, it's helpful to look at what triggers you, what annoys or upset you and perhaps find a value behind it!