Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a guide to making difficult decisions?
Especially if that guide was based on what worked for you, specifically?
Robert Glazer’s book, The Compass Within, helps you create such a guide through a values discovery exercise (the subtitle is “A Little Story About the Values That Guide Us”).
The book is a short parable of a young professional at a career crossroads who discovers his core values through a mentor guiding him through the process. By aligning his work and community with his values, he becomes more energized and impactful.
What I really liked about Glazer’s approach is that values are too often distilled down to single words like Integrity or Transparency which can be interpreted differently by different people, and are so generic that they can’t help you make decisions. The mentor in the book says “I suggest avoiding one-word core values. They tend to have too many interpretations. To guide your daily actions and decisions, values need to be very specific.”
Instead, the mentor pushes the young professional to create actionable, measurable phrases that describe how he wants to show up in the world. These phrases are distilled from his past experiences, both when he’s been his best, and when he has struggled at work or with others.
I went through the values exercise for myself, and came up with:
Respect: Support and appreciate others (and myself!)
Impact: Progress with conscious intention
Integrity: Radical candor (say what I mean and mean what I say)
I don’t always live up to these guidelines, but they provide me with directions on how to live as my best self.
How would you describe the “recipe” that helps you be your best self at work and in life?