Chapter 7

Your Worldview on Work

What is your worldview? The word itself sounds abstract and philosophical, like the lofty topic at a coffee shop debate among bespectacled college professors wearing tweed jackets with suede elbow patches. Not so.

Your worldview is at the foundation of your core values and it has hands-on practicality in your daily life. It is a collection of your convictions, attitudes, and opinions that defines your beliefs about reality. It is the lens through which you see the big picture. It triggers your reactions and responses to the world and to life itself, and it determines your sense of right and wrong.

Here are some examples of worldviews:

  • My happiness depends on the happiness of people around me.
  • I need to be independent and take charge of my own life.
  • It is important for me to excel over those around me.

Your worldview helps you answer thought-provoking questions, such as:

  • Who am I?
  • Where did I come from?
  • What is my purpose in life?

Applying Your Worldview to Work

Instinctively, you use your worldview to make large and small decisions in all areas of your life. You can apply it to your attitudes about work and your career choices. How do you view work? Do you view it as a way to use your talents and skills, make a positive impact on your community or the world, help solve other people's problems, make a difference, or make a living?

Interviewers probably will not use the term worldview, but you will know they are referring to it when they ask the ...

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