I Don't Know What I Want... Chapter 3

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I Don't Know What I Want, But I Know It's Not This

By Julie Jansen

Part II: Where Do You Want To Be?

 

Chapter 3: Values, Attitudes, and Change Readiness

Understanding who you are -- your values, attitudes, preferences, and personality traits -- is the key to discovering the kind of work that will bring you personal fulfillment.

That's a great note to start the chapter on, and you'll note that I posted it under the headline in what I hope will be a rotating list of relevant quotes.

She then introduces the assessments she'll be covering in this chapter:  Values, Attitudes, and Change Readiness (hey, just like the title of this chapter!).  I think I'll take us through the Values Assessment this week, and follow up with the others later.

Values

In the Values Assessment, Jansen starts by listing 40 potential values and asking the reader to check off which are important to him/her.  I chose 24.

Next, the reader has to narrow them down to a top 10. I chose:

• Achievement/Accomplishment
• Balance 
• Creativity
• Financial Security
• Health
• Integrity
• Learning
• Respect
• Security
• Spirituality

Then, the reader considers his/her current work situation and decides whether the value is being expressed right now.  For instance, I currently have balance, creativity, health, integrity, security, and some learning. But, being unemployed, I don't think I'm accomplishing much, I'm reliant on Chris for financial stability, I have no feedback as to whether I'm respected, and my spirituality -- which I wouldn't really expect to be fed at work anyway -- is not doing so well.

So going forward, I need to keep this list of ten handy.

Next time? Attitudes!


Edited 8/4/14 for formatting issues.

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• Secret of Adulthood: By Doing a Little Bit Each Day, You Can Get a Lot Accomplished.
• I Don't Know What I Want... Chapter 2, continued.
• I Don't Know What I Want... Chapter 9, Continued