When your work reflects what matters: Aligning your career with your core values
Photo by Andrew Valdivia on Unsplash
Academia is full of practical pressures—funding, publishing, promotions—that can cloud your sense of purpose. Without clarity on what truly drives you, it’s easy to find yourself saying ‘yes’ to projects even when they don’t feel quite right. New opportunities are always exciting, but accepting every offer that comes your way can ultimately leave you feeling uninspired and wondering what’s missing. If you are already doing ‘everything’, but still find yourself wondering whether there’s something more you are meant to do, how do you figure out what that ‘more’ is?
First, define your core values. Values are the principles and beliefs that inform a person’s decision-making, and shape what feels meaningful. Values act as a compass that guides you along the right path. When a project leaves you feeling stressed or bored—or maybe even with a total lack of motivation or a resistance to work—it might be your compass telling you you’ve gone off-course. Before going further, take a moment to assess your journey so far. Examine online lists of values and find 3-5 that resonate the most with you—why did you choose these values? Reflect on your past experiences and ask yourself: what projects, roles, or activities did you enjoy the most or find the most fulfilling? Then ask whether your current day-to-day activities embody these values. Evaluating activities against your list of values can help you decide if they are worth your time and effort.
Before taking on new activities, ask whether the activity aligns with your values. If you can align your activities with your values, you may feel more engaged and motivated in your work. This, in turn, can increase your resilience when times (invariably) get challenging: it’s easier to stay with it when the work and its outcomes are meaningful to you. Understanding your values allows you to define your long-term goals. Having concrete goals allows you to create actionable timelines toward real results. For example, a researcher who values education and learning may spend more of their time supporting their trainees’ development (as well as continually working on their own professional skills) even if it means that they may not collaborate on as many grants or may take longer to publish research papers.
Here are a few ways different values might shape academic careers:
A researcher who values discovery and creativity may prefer to focus on basic, theoretical research projects, as opposed to applied or clinical applications. By contrast, a researcher who values health and compassion may dedicate their research to clinical applications, including the development of rehabilitation programs or therapeutics.
A researcher who values impact and responsibility may partner with public policy experts in an effort to create real and lasting behavior change. Or they may develop a community lecture series, delivered at local libraries or high schools, to engage lay audiences and combat misinformation.
A researcher who values equity, diversity, and inclusion may start a committee to evaluate hiring and admission practices at their university to create a community that is more reflective of the demographics of the general population. Or their research program may consider participants’ unique lived experiences in evaluating health or economic outcomes.
A researcher who values leadership may also take on administrative roles within their department or university to remove barriers for their colleagues and chart new strategic directions.
Although academia can often feel stressful, a career in academia is not one-size-fits all. Rather, there is incredible freedom in academia to align your activities with your values. Doing so will allow you to define success on your own terms, achieve greater career satisfaction, and leave a lasting and powerful impact on your communities.
If you're ready to align your career with your values and set some new long-term goals that reflect what truly matters to you, let’s talk. Book a free discovery call today and start building a career that brings you clarity, joy, and fulfillment.
Next week: From surviving to thriving: How to build a meaningful and fulfilling academic career
