If You feel Adrift at Work, Try This Exercise

By Anne DeCore, lmft

We all experience periods in our professional lives that feel adrift. Sometimes it’s a feeling of disconnect to your work persona, your work culture, your work goals. When this happens, one place to start is with a values check-in. It may be that your values are out of alignment with the path your on at work. Clarifying and ranking values is an insightful exercise that can help you clarify the path forward.

1. Start by making a list of your core values:

Values are chosen qualities of being and doing. They describe how you want to live your life. We don’t achieve them; rather we live in accordance with them. Examples of values are: cooperation, creativity, freedom, justice, generosity, industry, responsibility, persistence, trust, spirituality, adventure, gratitude, etc.

2. Next, ask yourself:

Do my values connect to my work identity and goals? If so, how? When goals are detached from values, we tend to lose a sense of purpose. When goals flow from values we tend to feel motivated. Goals that flow from values are inherently more meaningful.

3. Close the gap:

Explore what you need to do to infuse your values back into your work life. Subtle tweaks or radical changes? Grant yourself permission to think beyond practical constraints. Even if you can’t implement the necessary changes immediately, it will soothe you to know that when the time comes, you’re already clear on what will guide you.

Values are enduring. Goals are finite.