A WorkLife Lesson: Jimmy’s Story:
As a teenager, Jimmy had defined his values. This helped him choose the best course of study to enable a WorkLife where he was motivated, fulfilled and happy. His values have guided him ever since to live his WorkLife with purpose, passion and pride.
Straight out of college, Jimmy had joined an online travel company for recreational and business travel. It’s been a great company to work for, and he has enjoyed his time there, which is now close to twenty years.
Until, lately, that is, when something changed. Jimmy felt he wasn't as happy as he had been throughout his WorkLife, but he didn't know why. After all, he was living his WorkLife true to his values.
An Assignment In Revisiting and Reevaluating Values
To try and figure out what was different, Jimmy revisited and reevaluated the values he had defined by the meaning they held for him.
For each value, he asked himself two questions:
Does my WorkLife honour this value?
Is this value as important to me now as it was when I first defined it?
Jimmy's Values:
Autonomy: Ownership in creating a WorkLife of independence and freedom.
Not only did Jimmy's WorkLife live up to this value. It surpassed it. This was because he had been encouraged and supported in owning his own decisions. The company's ethos is to recognise and celebrate both successes and failures and the learning taken from these. This has fostered a workforce that is confident and secure in making courageous choices.
Questions/Answers:
Does my WorkLife honour this value? Yes.
Is this value as important to me now as it was when I first defined it? Yes.
……………………………………………………………………..
In this lesson, you will learn how asking and answering these two questions for each of the values that had guided Jimmy in living his WorkLife with purpose, passion, and pride led him to gain the insight he needed to be able to recognise what was different and from there to make the necessary changes to bring back the happiness that was missing.
In this lesson’s WorkLife Learning Assignment, WorkLife Values Assignment, you will think about your fundamental values. This greater awareness is valuable for when you consider what course of study, type of job role, sector and work environment will suit you best, along with what is important to you in your life outside of work that you need to take into consideration.
In this lesson’s Continuous WorkLife Learning Assignment, through the 3 Simple Steps to Revisit and Reevaluate Your Values Assignment, you will learn to stay in tune with your values to be in a position to recognise when things go out of sync in your WorkLife. Should you experience being less happy, this will help you identify Your ‘Why?’, enabling you to make the necessary changes to restore what’s missing.