Do you feel like you have a values-based approach to a fulfilling career? I think it’s important to talk about because who doesn’t want to have a fulfilling career, right?
Also, for those of us who choose to become therapists, we aren’t just looking to earn an income. We are looking for a meaningful career path. Yet, as we get into our career it can feel a bit tricky to make that happen.
In this article, I discuss how to use a values-based approach to build a fulfilling career.
ACT Influence
In the discussion of a values-based approach I plan to mash together some loosely based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) informed tips with my own anecdotal life experiences.
My tips are not officially an ACT approach to building a fulfilling career. But, for those of you who have training in ACT, you will notice some of those themes popping up in what I share.
What is a Values-Based Approach?
Generally speaking, a values-based approach focuses on identifying an individual’s values as well as one’s realities and constraints. This can include: personality, skill set, and the existing parameters of life. Then, one would incorporate all of these within one’s values to build a life that best fits you and what you care about.
In this article, I’ll share specific tips for how to identify and then apply your values towards a fulfilling career.
But I want to give a preface: I’ve noticed that there is a common roadblock that comes up for a lot of folks while identifying their values and applying them to their life/career.
Often folks have a narrative of what we’re “supposed to” or what we “should” value.
I want to highlight this. It’s very possible to come into the question of: “What do I value when it comes to my career?”, and to start to say things like: “I feel like I’m supposed to value serving clients with a particular kind of need” or “I’m supposed to value working this many hours for this kind of pay.”
And, this may or may not be your actual value. But, if you’re hearing a “supposed to” or a “should” behind whatever your stated value is then I encourage you to go back to the drawing board and genuinely ask if that is your true value, or if you inherited a value from somewhere else that’s not really yours.
Now, let’s get into the tips for how to use a values-based approach to a fulfilling career!
Step One: Assess Values Across The Lifespan
The first tip is: zoom out! Take a look across your lifespan and all your different priorities in life and determine which values rise to the surface.
I don’t want you to just take a look at your values in your career across your lifespan, but also what your values are in your leisure time, your personal life, and your relationships.
This probably feels like a really big task. Because it is! How do you look at your entire lifespan and ask what you value across the whole thing?
To help, imagine your future self at the end of your career or life. Then, ask questions about how those around you might remember you for each aspect of your life.
As an example: you might ponder what you hope your clients or colleagues would say or remember about you at your retirement. Your answer is going to tell you a lot about what you value when it comes to your career.
When it comes to your relationships, what would you want your spouse, kids, or friends to say or remember about you? You can also ask this question to yourself: how would you want to remember yourself when you’re reaching the last years of your life?
The answers to these questions will reveal a lot about your values, and it’s a helpful starting point to figure out how to have a fulfilling career.
Step Two: Assess Values in the Present
The next tip is to zoom back into the present moment. Then ask: how well am I living my values right now? You could do this informally and reflect on each arena of your life: career, relationships, personal health, etc.
Or, if you do well with more structure, you could use the ACT bullseye worksheet. You can find the worksheet on page three.
The premise is to assess how you spend your time and your behaviors and then to measure those against your values. You can then determine what things are aligned with your values and what things don’t quite line up.
As you do this exercise you will likely find things that line up with your values, and things that are completely out of alignment.
There may also be some areas where you are prioritizing one value over another for this particular moment in time.
For example: if you just had a baby, you may be spending all of your time doing baby/family things even if you also, across your lifespan, have a value of being ambitious in your career. At the present – appropriately so – you may be prioritizing one value over another.
Hopefully, doing this assessment will provide an anchor point to ask: is the way that I have my life set up right now aligning with the values I want to prioritize at the moment?
If your answer is: yes, then great! Carry on to the next tip 🙂
But, maybe you feel like something is out of alignment in how you’re spending your time. If so, then this is a good opportunity to assess what values you do want to prioritize at the present when it comes to your career. As well for the different categories of your life.
Step Three: Assess Career Prioritization
The third tip is to assess where you want your career to fit amongst the prioritization of your other values at this moment in time. How do you want that to manifest? What sort of career values do you want to lean into at the moment?
At this point in the process, it could be easy to say: “Just make sure you change your behaviors to align with your stated present values.” And then think you are done.
But, from my perspective, what I notice happening is folks coming up against a resistant narrative. It’s usually not as simple as swapping some behaviors around and then feeling super fulfilled in our lives and careers.
Instead, we carry all these dialogues of all the other things we think we should be doing or should be valuing. Or we get into a comparison trap by trying to value something that someone else seems to be valuing.
We also might be carrying dialogues about things we genuinely do value, but in this present moment, we are not prioritizing those values for appropriate reasons. Therefore we are borrowing our values from a future or prior state where those values do get to take priority. That part of us is criticizing us in our present moment for not valuing those things.
Inner Narrative
In my opinion, a lot of the work of using a values-based approach to a fulfilling career is figuring out how to have healthy, helpful conversations with the critical narrative in our mind. That voice is not helpful. It’s not fulfilling to have that voice always there.
Therefore, it is important to acknowledge the “constructive” feedback voice but not let it control how you determine your values at the present moment.
Your inner narrative might sound like: “I see someone else lapping me on the value that they are leaning into right now. Kudos! Good for them. But, I have my own values that I am focusing on right now.”
Maybe you are putting the brakes on your career right now. Or maybe you are pushing the gas on your career, but that means you are deprioritizing other things right now. And that’s okay. That’s what you are choosing to do based on what best aligns with your values currently.
Step Four: Find People Who Support Your Values
Final tip: embrace people who embrace you. Find people who will fully support you leaning into your values.
If you can find some like-minded folks who validate you and your values, or who share values with you, this will help you self-soothe when the internal argumentative, combative narrative arises. Then you can have a friend/therapist/consult group cheering you on and reminding you that what you are doing is great.
Navigating Internal Resistance
Let’s say you followed all of these steps and you’ve identified the career route that makes the most sense and it involves some pivot or behavioral changes. You may find that you’re still coming up against a wall of resistance.
For example: you may have planned to launch your website two months ago and it’s still sitting unpublished. Rather than judging yourself, or writing the whole thing off, I encourage you to get to know the resistant side of you.
It’s probably some part of you that is either advocating for a value you haven’t noticed yet, a need that hasn’t been addressed yet, or a part of you that you need to tend to and nurture.
You may be able to still set out on the same path you intended once you tend to that, or maybe you need a little reroute. Or maybe you need something else to help you feel that you are ready to go ahead into the fulfilling career you envisioned.
Taking Things One Step Further
If you would like some more help navigating resistance, then you can check out my video on 4 therapy approaches to resistance. These tools are just as helpful for my internal dialogue as they are when working with therapy clients.
Figuring out what a fulfilling career looks like for you often comes down to how you define success. Check out my article What Does A Successful Private Practice Look Like to help determine what success means for you.
I hope you found this article helpful, supportive, and validating when implementing a values-based approach to a fulfilling career. Maybe you picked up some new tips, or maybe this helped you confirm the path that you’ve already chosen because it aligns with your values.
Until next time, from one therapist to another: I wish you well.
-Marie
Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Photo by William Fortunato on Pexels
Leave A Reply