The process of values clarification is important to career choice and success. Identifying your values is a way to filter down all of the irrelevant junk and get to what really matters to you.

Chances are your values will shift through your lifetime. There are times when a whole new perspective may come into view during major life changes. It is then that you will work to accommodate a new sense of meaning in your life. Those times are when it is especially important to reevaluate your values to help you keep your priorities straight.

If there is one thing that will cause you to quit a job on the spot, it’s when your job or your employer is in conflict with your values. Also, there are few things in life that bring such joy as knowing that you are contributing to the world in a way that meets your unique set of values.

A little exploration and reflection will help you list and prioritize your most important values. A work life with many rewarding experiences is the payoff.

Here is a quick, free values assessment online. Be sure to print the summary sheet to add to your career development file or binder for future review.

Review your summary sheet in times of stress and controversy to help you recognize why a particular situation is getting to you. You will likely find that one of your high priority values has been compromised. Often identifying the value underlying the issue is half the battle! From there you may be able to communicate better from a standpoint of the root cause.

An exercise to build up energy about what you want to achieve in life is to reflect on your value summary sheet then define what you want and record it in great detail. Remember this, it is important to have fun with this exercise! Don’t worry about how you are going to do it or begin to feel bad because you haven’t done it yet. Just enjoy the process of defining what you want.

For most of us, our career is the source of funds for all our other experiences. Money made through work enables us to have and do things, of course. So why don’t most of us spend more money taking care of our careers per year than taking care of our pets or our tickets to special events?

It is important to think of career coaching and lifelong learning as investments rather than only expenditures. Better yet, make career development a line item in your annual budget so that money spent on it is not just emergency spending but thoughtful, pre-planned spending instead which has a much better chance of long-term, positive impact.

Check out this listing of the “Best Careers 2008.” This kind of stuff is great for career research! Of course the danger here is that this list is developed using someone else’s value system, or at least values that are presumed to be important to most people. But if you go into the article realizing that, you should be okay.

Also, keep in mind that what really make a career one of “the best” is how well it suits the individual. For example, just because audiologist is listed doesn’t mean everyone will be happy doing it of course!

But this article does get you thinking about trends and changes as well as profiling a few select careers so it is worth a looksy. I especially like the section on “Most Overrated” because we all have stereotypical ideas of what certain careers are like and so it’s good to get the rest of the story. Of course it would be even better to talk to someone in person yourself if you are seriously considering one of these careers.

I wrote before about how being a careerillionaire is not necessarily about the money. Take a look at this little sketch depicting “The Evolution of Work-Life Balance.” Very clever! The prediction is that by 2050 we will get to life.

Here is the thing about careerillionaires — they don’t wait. They are working with passion now so work feeds their spirits and doesn’t feel like work. One reason for this is that careerillionaires make their quality of life top priority!

I’m not much for poems but here is one that I love called Desiderata.

Notice the lines relevant to self and career development…good stuff.

“If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.”

I’m back to furthering the careerillionaire definition. One thing that I am certain of is that being a careerillionaire is not necessarily about the money. For some people it may be but for many people it is not. I find there are people out there who for them a job is a job and as long as they collect a paycheck on time as promised without too much hassle, they are happy. If only it was so easy for all of us! For other people, they may learn after working at a high paying but unsatisfying job that every day at work is torture and eventually the money is just not worth it. They wonder why they are not happy when the money is so good. Those are the people for whom money may be important but not most important and other considerations must be made.

Really the money you want to make through your career is one of those factors that must be ranked within your own personal value system. Understanding your values means knowing the ideals that are most important to you. A few examples of values are: expertise, excitement, creativity, helping, and recognition. There are many, many other possibilities. Values are a very personal matter. There isn’t a particular set of values that is “the best” or any better than the rest. But, knowing your unique value set will help you stay on target to fulfill the needs that are most important in your life. In that way you honor and take care of yourself first, which will bring a level of peace and certainly keep you on track towards the careerillionaire lifestyle.