In one of the many Coursera courses I was taking, one key thing you are supposed to do in order to gain resilience and improve your career is to define your values. Before they explained what that was they image that came to my mind was of some trait or attribute, like being a hard worker. Turns out values are the things that are important to you, stuff you prioritize that make you feel good about the world when they are attended to.
This week we had a product development training session at work. The presenter started out by asking what a service is. Those who were asked to relay their idea of what a service is stated some variation of "It's something where someone serves you." The actual definition of a service that was used for the presentation was that service is a material/non-material good or invention that people can feel compelled to pay for. So, people are not really being paid to serve you at a restaurant; they are providing you with the opportunity to sample amazing dishes in a great ambiance, to make your meal an experience, and also without you toiling in the kitchen or investing to gain the skills required to make these dishes.
Values aren't stuff in your personality that can make you successful; they're stuff that inform what goals you will set for yourself, which are in turn signposts to the path of success you need to be taking. While service isn't something people do for you or to you in exchange for pay, it's about something existing in the world that you have to get in on so badly you're willing to pay for it.
It would be interesting to ask people from around the world about this, about what they think values and service mean. My idea is that people in less advantaged countries have a more entitled view about these concepts.
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