Thursday
Feb252010
The Benefit of Giving Yourself Value Next-Actions
Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 2:00AM
It's not enough to just have values, they must become the cornerstones of your decision making process. Anybody can say they have values, but that's not the point. In fact, you shouldn't even have to articulate them in order for the people you interact with most to be able to describe them; if you actually live your values on a day-to-day basis, it becomes obvious what they are.
I've written about my values in the past and I want to make sure that I don't fall into the trap of making a list that sounds good but isn't actually practiced. I think the best way to prevent this from happening is to actually make a list of value next-actions that will help you live a life that is aligned with your values. This is sort of taking a page out of Getting Things Done and the importance of having truly actionable "next actions" for every project. By making sure that your next action is something that can truly be accomplished even the largest of projects can keep moving forward.
For example, one of my stated values is "growth." Some of my next actions to further this value are, "Watch a TED talk," "Finish reading current book," and "Begin researching ebook project." Another one of my values is "family" so some possible actions I can take to further this is, "call cousin in Florida," "email my grandparents," and "go to brother's hockey game on Wednesday."
Values can be very amorphous things when you don't take the time to actually figure out what it looks like to live with them guiding your actions. I recommend sitting down and giving yourself 2-3 actions for each of your main values at the beginning of every week. You don't necessarily have to do it for every single value that adhere to. In fact, I think it's probably a better idea to focus on only one or two values a week in order to make the biggest impact.
The bottom line is that your values mean nothing if your actions don't align with them. Give yourself some next-actions ahead of time and the rest takes care of itself.
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I've written about my values in the past and I want to make sure that I don't fall into the trap of making a list that sounds good but isn't actually practiced. I think the best way to prevent this from happening is to actually make a list of value next-actions that will help you live a life that is aligned with your values. This is sort of taking a page out of Getting Things Done and the importance of having truly actionable "next actions" for every project. By making sure that your next action is something that can truly be accomplished even the largest of projects can keep moving forward.
For example, one of my stated values is "growth." Some of my next actions to further this value are, "Watch a TED talk," "Finish reading current book," and "Begin researching ebook project." Another one of my values is "family" so some possible actions I can take to further this is, "call cousin in Florida," "email my grandparents," and "go to brother's hockey game on Wednesday."
Values can be very amorphous things when you don't take the time to actually figure out what it looks like to live with them guiding your actions. I recommend sitting down and giving yourself 2-3 actions for each of your main values at the beginning of every week. You don't necessarily have to do it for every single value that adhere to. In fact, I think it's probably a better idea to focus on only one or two values a week in order to make the biggest impact.
The bottom line is that your values mean nothing if your actions don't align with them. Give yourself some next-actions ahead of time and the rest takes care of itself.
Do you want to make sure you never miss an article on SamSpurlin.com? Click here to subscribe to the RSS feed. Want to get even more involved with the community here? Click here to join the Monthly Newsletter mailing list to get exclusive content and steep discounts on products and coaching.
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Values
Reader Comments (9)
I agree wholeheartedly because of my own guiding principle - actions speak louder than words.
Live what you believe. I like that.
I agree; one value is honestly -- I remember one time at the mall I got my pants tailored, I could've gotten it tailored for free if I said "Yes" to the question (she asked if I paid in advance when I picked it up) but I said "No I didn't"
Values and Principles, it's all about that baby!
I 100% agree. My preferred leadership style has always been leading by example because of what you just said.
Nobody likes a hypocrite, right? If there is one thing this blog has done for me is make me aware of my own hypocritical tendencies. This seems like a good way to correct that.
Exactly. Plus, you just made a major deposit into your karma account so who knows what that will get you :)
Great idea! so simple yet so powerfull.
I feel this post. And I agree with you. And I think it's important.
I think some people might argue that adhering to values like "Family" should come naturally. Or that it's dishonest to set specific weekly goals regarding family. Something like that.
However, values can get lost in the necessities of daily life. It's okay and sometimes necessary to MAKE time to do things that align with one's values.
Finally, I've found that doing things that relate to my values makes me feel better when I'm having a down day. When I'm not feeling great about myself, I do something for somebody else.
I'm done blabbing.
The point of my comment: great post!
Thanks Lizzie. I felt the same way about it as I was writing the post. I found myself thinking, "Isn't it kind of sad that I have to give myself next actions to live my "family" value?" But then i decided that it would be even sadder to take it for granted and find out I'm not doing as much as I should.