Aligning Your Job with Your Life

Keri Tlachac
Jul 21
2 min read

Aligning your job with your life and who you are means finding work that fits your values, supports your lifestyle, and uses your natural strengths. If you have never thought this through before you are truely missing out. If you can do this you'll never work another day in your life. Here's a clear breakdown of how to do that:

🔹 1. Know Yourself First-This is the most important place to start!!!

Before aligning anything, you need clarity on who you are:

Values – What matters most to you? (e.g., freedom, security, impact, creativity)
Strengths – What do you naturally do well? (Use tools like CliftonStrengths or DISC)
Interests – What keeps your attention without force?
Lifestyle needs – Do you need flexibility, high income, less stress, or routine?
Personality – Do you thrive alone or in teams? Prefer structure or freedom?

🧠 Tip: Journal your answers to: “What gives me energy? What drains me?” Look back throughout your career, childhood, schooling and write down similar patterns.

🔹 2. Audit Your Current Job and Previous Jobs

Ask:

Does this job reflect who I am?
Do I feel respected and energized—or drained and overlooked?
Is my life outside work suffering because of my job?

If you're compromising your health, time with family, or mental peace, it's not aligned.

🔹 3. Define Your Non-Negotiables

These are the “must-haves” in your ideal job:

Remote/flexible schedule?
Ethical company culture?
Clear growth path?
Collaborative vs. independent work?
Salary floor?

📌 If your job doesn’t hit your non-negotiables, that misalignment will burn you out over time.

🔹 4. Rework Your Role or Environment

You don’t always need a new job—sometimes you need to reshape the one you have.

Propose shifting duties toward your strengths.
Suggest more flexible hours or a change in team/manager.
Set boundaries to protect personal time.

🔹 5. Make a Strategic Exit if Needed

If your job is misaligned beyond repair:

Start quietly exploring roles that match your values and strengths.
Network in spaces that reflect who you are—not just what you’ve done.
Use your next move to close the gap between what you do and who you are.

🔹 6. Keep Checking In-Life Changes and as it does so does your Career needs

Alignment isn’t one-and-done. Revisit this whenever:

You start dreading work
Your life circumstances change
You’re making career decisions

Ask: “Is this job helping me become more of who I want to be?”

Be sure to check out the Free Resources section on my site. Twelve years ago, I started researching my own life and values—and it changed everything. The same assessments I used on my journey are available there, and I know they can help you too.

Keri Tlachac, Owner

WCSR