Audit whether your work actually reflects your values

You spend most of your waking hours at work, and some quiet part of you suspects it is not pointing where you want your life to go. This audits the fit honestly: write your top five values, then rate how much your current work lets you live each one. The gaps that surface tell you what to protect, change or finally walk away from.

This is a structured audit of how well your current work aligns with what you actually care about. Set aside 20 minutes and be honest.

Step 1: Write down your top five personal values. If you're not sure, use these as prompts: What makes you feel most alive? What do you defend when someone attacks it? What would you regret not having in your life at 80?

Step 2: For each value, rate how much your current work allows you to express it, on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (completely).

Step 3: Look at your lowest-rated values. Write one sentence about what specifically at work blocks that value.

Step 4: Look at your highest-rated values. What part of your work enables those? Is it the role itself, the team, the organisation, or something else?

Step 5: If you could change one thing about your work to bring it closer to your values, what would it be? Be specific: not 'more meaning' but 'I want to see the person my work helps.'

Step 6: Is the misalignment a dealbreaker, a slow drain, or something you can work around? Write one honest sentence.