Along my coaching journey I’ve come across a bunch of tools designed to help a coaching client to see their situation differently than they do naturally. There is immense power in altered perspective, and it’s one of the reasons that coaching works so well—most people naturally see things the way they see them, and that’s not always what is needed.

One such tool is called the “Wheel of Life” (pictured below). As I was playing with this tool myself, I wondered: why couldn’t this be used for work?

Well, I think it can, so I created my own version and I am going to share it with you here.

You’ve heard the saying “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” Or maybe you’ve heard the more modern version spoken by Morpheus in The Matrix, “I can only show you the door, you’re the one who has to walk through it.”

Opportunity abounds, and you face choices every single day about how to invest a slice of your time in walking through one of those doors. But… Which one should you walk through?

Any door. Literally choose any door. You ready?

To make a real impact in your work, and on the world, you need more than one type of person. That sounds obvious, given our understanding of the importance of diversity, but we need more than differing perspectives, we also need differing personalities, and there is a simple way to think about it that can help you build a successful environment around you.

The moment I began to understand how I fit into these three simple types, it gave me an entirely new perspective on my work.

Everything that you see, do, and feel are just thoughts. If you think I’m crazy, or wrong, or even if you think I’m correct… Those are thoughts, too. Our entire life’s experience from end to end is just millions of thoughts.

“Cool, so what?” you’d say, if you were here.

Once you truly understand that everything is a thought, you begin to unlock the superpower that we all possess: the ability to influence our thoughts and materially change our lives for the better. It can start with just one word. So today, I’ll give you two.

Last week, I wrote that passion for your job is a mistake, which attracted a bit of attention, and some of the questions and conversation uncovered confusion about passion vs. values, and what it looks like to be fulfilled in your work even if you aren’t passionate about it.

I’m not an expert, just a traveler on a values-aligning journey myself, so I can’t be authoritative, but I think I can help break this down.

In short, if you want to achieve fulfillment at work, and leave work each day feeling happy, put your values to work for you. By the end of this article you’ll have an idea of how to do that.