First Step: Clarify Your Career Values

 (Yes, Before You Do Anything Else)

Before CV and resumes.
Before applications.
Before networking.
Before “should I leave academia?”

You clarify your career values.

Not your passions.
Not your dreams.
Not the version of yourself you were trained to perform for committees.

Your values.

If you skip this step (and most PhDs do) you will make career decisions that look rational on paper and feel unbearable in real life. Then you will assume you are the problem.

You are not.

Why This Step Is Non-Negotiable

Academic culture teaches people to confuse:

• prestige with fulfillment
• suffering with seriousness
• scarcity with worth

As a result, many PhDs chase jobs that actively violate their values, then wonder why they feel depleted, resentful, and/or stuck six months in.

A career is not “good” because it looks impressive.
A career is good if it is livable.

And livability is determined by values.

What I Mean by “Career Values” (And What I Don’t)

Career values are the conditions under which you can do good work without burning out.

They include things like:

• autonomy
• stability
• predictability
• income floor
• flexibility
• intellectual stimulation
• collaboration
• impact
• boundaries
• geographic control

They are not:

• job titles
• identities
• moral virtues
• things you think you should value

You do not get extra points for valuing precarity, overwork, or martyrdom.

The Action (30 Minutes, Timed)

Set a timer. Open a document. Do this without overthinking.

Step 1: Choose Your Top 5 Career Values

From the list above—or your own—select five values that matter most right now.

Not forever.
Not ideally.
Now.

If everything feels important, you are not being honest yet.

Step 2: Rank Them

Put them in order.

Yes, this is uncomfortable.
That’s the point.

If forced to choose, would you prioritize:

• autonomy over stability?
• impact over income?
• flexibility over prestige?

You cannot optimize for everything. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying, or selling something.

Step 3: Name the Cost of Violating Each Value

For each value, write one sentence:

“When this value is missing, I tend to feel ___ and it usually leads to ___.”

This is where clarity arrives.

Values matter because violating them has consequences—and you’ve probably already paid some of those costs.

Common Resistance (Let’s Address It)

“But I don’t have the luxury of choosing.”
Everyone has constraints. That does not mean values disappear. It means tradeoffs become visible.

“What if my values don’t match what academia rewards?”
Then you’ve learned something crucial, and early.

“What if my values change?”
They will. This is a working document, not a vow.

Why This Comes First

Every future step in this series—bios, resumes, networking, applications, negotiations—depends on this clarity.

Without it, you will:

• apply indiscriminately
• say yes when you mean no
• chase prestige instead of fit
• blame yourself when systems fail you

With it, you can evaluate opportunities quickly and strategically.

Not emotionally.
Not aspirationally.
Strategically.

Containment Rules (Read This)

• 30 minutes only.
• Five values, not ten.
• No moralizing.
• No explaining yourself to imaginary critics.

You are not auditioning. You are orienting.

Careers do not derail because people are lazy or confused. They derail because values are ignored.

This week, you stop ignoring yours.

That is the first real career action.