Write your Workview and Lifeview

Articulate what work is for and what life is for — then check whether they point the same way.

Why it works

Most direction-conflict is two unstated philosophies pulling against each other: a Workview (why you work, what good work is) and a Lifeview (what a life is for). Writing both makes the collision visible and gives you a stable yardstick to evaluate options against, so choices stop feeling like coin-flips and start being measured against something you actually believe.

How to do it

1. Write a short Workview: what work means to you and what makes it worthwhile beyond money.
2. Write a short Lifeview: what a meaningful life consists of and where work fits in it.
3. Read them side by side and mark where they conflict — that tension is the thing to resolve.

Evidence

This is a values-clarification exercise, and clarifying and acting on personal values is a well-supported component of acceptance-based therapies. The Workview/Lifeview framing is Designing Your Life’s particular packaging of it. (mechanistic)

Values work has clinical support broadly; the specific two-document format is a teaching structure rather than a separately validated intervention.

Common mistake

Writing what you think you should value (or what sounds noble) rather than what you actually do, so the yardstick measures a stranger’s life.