Being Optimal: Values Drive Action

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Here is a challenge. Within the next 30 seconds, name five values that you have. Start.

I have never really thought much about values. They were more or less ingrained in me growing up. I think that this is true with many others. So when I did the above exercise, my brain literally fogged up. And that’s a problem.

Without a clearly articulated set of values, it can be tough making decisions and you are highly susceptible to being seduced and manipulated in any number of ways. This can be by other people, employers, online programs and apps, governments, and a host of other entities. Without clearly known values, these are strong organizations to be up against.

So what are values?

A Google search will find statements centering around the following: “Values are individual beliefs that motivate people to act one way or another. They serve as a guide for human behavior.” Some values have intrinsic worth, such as love, truth, and freedom. Other values, such as ambition, responsibility, and courage, describe traits or behaviors that are instrumental as a means to an end.

But if we merely absorb values rather than articulate them, they can be hidden from our view. In writing this article, I had a difficult time articulating my message. I have values but they seem to have lingered in the background. They were there and I lived by them but I could not easily articulate them.

But after the fourth or so draft, serendipity happened. I came upon the following website that helped me articulate my values: HERE.

You start by pinpointing your personal core values from a list of 122 words. You have three minutes to do this step. Next, you take the words selected and group similar ones into five colored groups. Again, you have three minutes to accomplish the task. From these groups, you pick a primary word from each color. With that complete, you make the values actionable by adding a verb. From there you prioritize them with an end result of developing your own personal mission statement.

Using the above process, I ended up with the following five values:

  • Leadership

  • Adventure

  • Wisdom

  • Intuition

  • Autonomy

This led to a personal mission statement of “Using wisdom and intuition to live a purposeful, independent life while helping others grow and achieve.”

Within a 10-minute exercise, I was able to stop the presses and look into myself. It was almost a form of active meditation. A centering process. Awareness. It is something I will do on a regular basis.

In today's world, many apps have us jump into goals, habits, and to-dos before we have really thought about our values first. This results in missing the target and always feeling behind the power curve.

Clearly articulated values help us define who we are becoming rather than some story or fantasy about ourselves (our minds are amazing story-making machines). And these stories can lead us astray.

Let’s take my leadership value as an example.

My father pushed leadership as a value on to me. When I was in Little League, he explained that as a shortstop and pitcher I should help guide the action from on the field. From there, leadership took a sabbatical in high school and college; unfortunately, lack of confidence and survival were the themes during that time.

However, once I started my career the leadership value reappeared. I happened to work for an entrepreneurial company where you had the chance to exert your thoughts, build businesses, and where leadership was recognized. This led to becoming a group manager and senior vice president. It also led to opportunities to sit on various boards of directors.

It wasn’t until I took that 10-minute exercise that I realized that maybe telling my Little League teammates the number of outs and how to react to certain plays paid off. That value of leadership, and its importance to me, has guided me most of my career.

I now realize that having leadership and my other values front and center would have made me a better person and manager. I now start each day reviewing those values as I look at my calendar. Focus and awareness of my values is critical I now realize.

Your turn. Hop over to the values site and start your work. You will be better for taking the 10 minutes.

Pat