Written by Tamara Steltenpool
Many people are looking for work that suits them. Even people who already have a job. Perhaps you recognize that you come home with less and less energy. You don’t exactly dance for joy in the morning because you can go back to work, or you find that one colleague increasingly irritating. Perhaps you miss the challenge in your work or experience little satisfaction. A “is this it now?” feeling. You may want something else. But then what? And how? To get answers to these questions I help you asking yourself questions that will help you look for your personal values in the workplace.
Burnouts
The longer you stay in a job where part of you is increasingly unhappy, the more it begins to gnaw at you. There are signs that it is time for change. Change is perceived as exciting by many people. The old and familiar is familiar territory and therefore it has a kind of appeal. Even if this is not the area where you feel happy. This is precisely why signals are neatly swept under the well-known rug. Resolved. Blinkers on and on.
But you pay a price for this. The signals will become more intense just until you are ready to listen. For some, this even leads to burnout symptoms.
You can express to your employer what you are up against and hopefully you will find a hearing. Maybe there are opportunities you hadn’t thought of. In such an interview, it is helpful to know what you are looking for in your work and what your needs are. So what is important to you. These are your values. Getting these clear helps tremendously. When you don’t have a job but are looking, your values are a great tool.
Questions to ask yourself
Values are like signposts. When you know your values, you can use them as direction, measuring stick or checklist. To better understand your values, ask yourself the following questions:
- What is important to you in your work? Why?
- Why are you doing what you are doing now?
- When are you fully motivated in your work? What reason is behind this?
- At what point do you get energy from your work? What’s in that?
- When are you willing to put a lot of effort into something? Where does this willingness come from?
- In what situation do you get upset? Then what happens?
- What do you think is missing in your work right now?
- What does your work bring you now? What does it provide?
Make sure you are honest with yourself as you answer these questions. Sometimes (unconsciously) judgments live on you or you catch yourself having an opinion about the answer you have to a question. Don’t push this aside, but examine it. Apparently there is information here that you didn’t already know.
How does your body feel
Also check how the answers resonate in your body. What do you feel? Does it make you happy? Do you notice certain sensations or changes in your body posture? Again, you will find very important information here.
Let the collected answers sink in for a moment. You will begin to see a common thread. You are also likely to see things you do want and things you do not want.
This will already give you a lot of clarity about what is important to you in the field of work. You probably understand better why certain things take so much energy, why you are not motivated for something, what you need to “turn on” and where you feel it flows just thinking about it. That’s what you’re looking for!
When you want to have even sharper focus on what is important to you, it is nice to spar with someone. Someone who questions you, uncovers patterns, thinks with you and names things you don’t see yourself. Then you’ll get a lot more information to surface. You are welcome to take the deepening journey together! Check out my area on ELFIN and feel free to contact me.
Want to know more about this topic? Find out here what Tamara can do for you!
