Figure out your strengths
Who you are as an individual, what you have in your toolkit (= your skills) when you start a new job – and how you use what’s in this toolkit – all pl...
Advice and Tips
Module 2 – Figure out what you want to do
Published: Mar. 31 2022
What matters to you, and what do you like doing? These are important questions that you should be able to answer in order to make good choices in life. For instance, if you have a job you like, you’ll be more productive at it. You’ll probably also feel a strong sense of mastery and know without a doubt that you’ve chosen the right career for yourself.
While there are many jobs that may appear interesting on the surface, it’s important to ask yourself if they’re the right ones for you. One thing that most of us have in common is that we want our work to be meaningful. And you should only apply for jobs that provide you with challenges and opportunities to grow your skills.
It’s a good idea to begin a job search by finding out what motivates you.
Exercise: Find your driving force
Find your driving force
I like to …
I’m inspired by …
I feel positive energy when …
I’m passionate about …
Tip: It’s a good idea to ask others how they experience you and what they think you’re good at doing.
By doing these short thought exercises, you’ll become more aware of your sense of inner motivation. This’ll help you move forward because when you’re working on something that motivates you, you’ll have more energy and produce better results.
Articulate your personal set of values. This means in practice being able to say what your values are out loud. It’s a good idea to spend a lot of time reflecting on this topic, and doing this exercise’ll help you reflect and get to know yourself better in the process.
Exercise: What are your values?
Read through this list and find the values that work for you.
Adventure
Ambition
Ambition
Amusement
Balance
Be appreciated
Be in good shape
Be useful to society
Become a celebrity
Become famous
Belief
Boldness
Care
Caring
Caution
Challenges
Change
Commitment
Communication
Compassion
Competition
Contribute
Cooperation
Create a better world
Create something new
Creativity
Credibility
Democracy
Details
Details
Determination
Development
Dignity
Diversity
Earn (a lot of) money
Elegance
Empathy
Empathy
Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm
Excitement
Experiences
Exploration
Faith
Family
Fast-paced work environment
Feel a sense of mastery
Focus
Freedom
Freedom
Friendliness
Friendship
Gender equality
Get recognition
Get recognition
Get recognition
Good society
Happines
Have fun
Have the power to make decisions
Health
Help others
Helpfulness
Honesty
Honor
Hope
Inclusion
Independence
Influence others
Ingenuity
Inner harmony
Inner peace
Innovation
Integrity
Intelligence
Interdependence
Justice
Knowledge
Knowledge
Leadership
Learn something new
Love
Loyalty
Make a difference
Meaningful
Not too much pressure
Opportunity to develop
Optimism
Order
Patience
Peace
Personal insight
Physical challenges
Politeness
Power
Precision
Precision
Predictability
Professionalism
Promotion
Quantity
Reach a goal
Recognition
Reliability
Responsibility
Security
Security
See quick results
Self-confidence
Self-confidence
Self-respect
Sense of engagement
Sense of order
Seriousness
Spirituality
Stability
Stability
Status
Surplus
Sympathy
Team
Traditions
Traditions
Trust
Use my abilities
Variation
Variation
Work alone
Work alone
Work hard
Work with others
Work-life balance
Modified predefined list of values (Røyset and Kleppestø 2017)
Many of these values – or other ones that you’ve written down – may work for you. And although you probably have a high number of values on your list, choose just five of them to start.
When this list is ready, go ahead and test their strength.
Look at your values one by one and ask yourself three questions:
- Could I give up this value for money?
- Do I talk about this value with friends and other people I respect?
- Do I practice this value when no one sees me?
Remember: If you emphasize certain values too much, this might result in your making choices that come at the expense of other things that are important to you. For example, if you’ve chosen a job where your salary is the most important factor, this might mean values like personal development, learning, freedom, etc. won’t be taken care of.
Our advice to you: Make sure your career choices include your values.
