Your values, beliefs and interests
This section outlines how your values impact on your general approach to life, what motivates you, and how others see you.
You place great importance on making full use of your talents. You like to feel intelligent and capable – and want others to see you that way too. You are driven and keep pushing yourself to reach your own challenging goals, with people likely to respect you for your motivation and energy. At the same time, you may not feel the need to compete against others or insist they reach the same high standards. In fact you probably shy away from people who are too competitive, political, materialistic or aggressive. Your drive is less about money, promotion and status and more about making yourself and others proud.
You believe that your life is your own and that we shape our own destinies. You probably can’t stop yourself from taking part in a range of pursuits and if there’s a chance to be creative, you’ll jump at it. You’re a curious sort and love to find your own path, whatever it may be. Others will respect you for your self-motivated approach to life and independent spirit.
You’re the sort of person who feels restricted or held back by rules and procedures, so you don’t always place a high value on the ‘traditional’ way of doing things. You’re probably very open-minded, flexible and even a little maverick in your approach sometimes.
You like to be spontaneous. Stability and security are things that other people strive for and you fight against. Well, where’s the fun in knowing what’s around the next corner? Let’s be honest, you’d feel stifled by a predictable or sheltered way of life. After all, life is for living and you’d hate to let it pass you by. You don’t want to miss a moment of it!
Your career
Whether you are currently in work or not, this section outlines the career and work environment likely to be best suited to your values, where you will be happiest and able to perform at your best.
Your drive to make full use of your talents and meet your own high standards may help you progress in your career more quickly than your peers – intentionally or not. You are likely to be a fairly good team player, although you probably don’t suffer fools gladly and have an aversion to ‘sloppy standards’. As a manager or leader, your style is likely to be involving and democratic. You are unlikely to be particularly status conscious and would feel frustrated working in the ‘dog-eat-dog’ culture of a very hierarchical or overly political organisation.
You’d never find yourself wanting to work in a bureaucratic or rigid working environment – you like to set your own goals and make your own rules. You thrive on having freedom and autonomy in your role, and you would probably clash with a controlling manager. A career in a creative, innovative and flexible work environment would be perfect for you. Or with the right discipline, you could do well working for yourself.
Because you don’t really feel the need for order and discipline, you’d probably do well in an entrepreneurial or creative role, or perhaps working for yourself – as long as you had enough social contact to prevent you from feeling bored and isolated.
You’ve probably gone for a role that changes by the day and doesn’t restrict you with routine. You may have even selected a job that has an element of risk, or even danger. Jobs in compliance, security, or health and safety are for other people to apply for, as far as you are concerned. You may find that you’re also suited to an entrepreneurial role or to working for yourself.
Your finances
This section explains your likely approach to handling money and your general finances both over the short and long term.
Even if you don’t manage all areas of your finances tightly, when it comes to investing in the education or career of yourself and your family, you will give this a high priority.
You don’t like to be dictated to by anyone, let alone your bank, on what you could or should be doing with your money. You’d probably be happier with more flexible and more creative approaches to managing your finances. You probably don’t like the idea of relying on the funds of others or having joint accounts, because you want your own financial independence.
Let’s be honest, you’re probably not the best at organising your finances and you may feel there are more exciting things to do than pay those boring bills. In fact, you probably don’t check your bank balance enough, so at the end of the month, you may be surprised to find that you’ve gone over your overdraft or credit card limit (again).
Questions to ask your bank manager
Would I like an online tool that shows me how close I am to my financial targets?
Do I want a new way of managing money that helps me meet my goals and evolves with me?
Would I like my bank to arrange annual reviews to see I’m on the path to wealth?
Am I interested in retirement help and ideas that help me achieve all my goals and ambitions?
Your financial priorities
Could the right help give my finances the kick start they need?
How can I ensure I’ll always be able to support my family?
Will my bank help me grow and protect my money, so I can always buy the things I want?
Self-development
Whilst our strongly held values help give us a strong focus in life, they can also, on occasion lead to blind spots in our self awareness, and/or drive our behaviour in less effective ways. Here are some questions to ask yourself, which may or may not apply to you – they are to be used as food for thought only.
How do you keep yourself motivated when others don’t appreciate, or make the most of, your talents?
Are your standards always realistic? Can you sometimes be too demanding of yourself or others?
Can you be too career-focused? Do you sometimes unintentionally neglect the needs of those closest to you?
Are you sometimes strong willed to the point of being stubborn?
Does this ever impact negatively on others?
Do you think there are times when you could listen more to the advice of others?
Do you think that you could be a little too dismissive of protocol or tradition, at times?
Could you benefit from a more organised and disciplined approach to your life and work?
Do you put yourself in risky or dangerous situations unnecessarily? Would you benefit more from thinking things over a little more before you take the plunge?
Could you rein in your tendency to jump in at the deep end, at times?
Could you benefit from planning and organising your life to a greater degree?
Am I looking after my health as well as I should? Or do I perhaps think about my health too much?
Should I be looking for ways to work less and spend more time with my family? Or do I perhaps spend too much of my life with them, and not enough on looking after my own personal growth and needs?
Am I earning enough to get everything I want from life? Or do I perhaps place too much emphasis on money – after all, it doesn’t buy happiness?
