<aside>
👉 There's more helpful material about this in the texbook, under Writing Out a Value (Old Version)
</aside>
- Make sure it's really a value of yours.
- Write clearly and inspiringly.
Make Sure it's Really a Value
What we mean by value, is a way you find it meaningful to be. A way you find it meaningful to treat people, approach things, act, appreciate, what you find it meaningful to notice, etc.
It's always active, and always about how you can be.
You should understand the difference values vs goals, feelings, experiences, and internalized norm.
- Not a feeling or experience. Feelings or experiences are things that happen to you. Unlike experiences and feelings, values always involve (1) a way you are able to be; and (2) a kind of reflective stance, an assessment by yourself that something was meaningful to you and important to your way of living. Usually living by a value feels meaningful in the moment, but it doesn't have to. Sometimes you realize that a way you were able to act was super meaningful only after the fact.
- Not a goal. The meaningfulness of values is about expressing the value in your actions, not about the outcomes that result from acting that way. So "being honest" can be a value but not "making friends by being honest". Whether it's a value depends on which part of it seems meaningful or important. If it's only the outcome that's meaningful, then it's not a value.
- Not an internalized norm. Values aren't images you think you should live up to. Being a good father is not a value, and neither is "killing it as an entrepreneur" or "smashing the patriarchy". This is tricky territory because there are internalized norm versions of almost every value. Sometimes people are honest because it feels meaningful. Other times, because we feel like we're supposed to be. If it's in the second category., it's not a value. (Try playing On My Own Terms to get to the value side of things.)
- Not a hard step. Something like "not having to worry about how I look" is not a value, because it doesn't name the thing that's meaningful. It might name an important step in creating meaning, but it doesn't name what's meaningful itself. So if you start writing something like this, ask "how is it that I can be when I'm not worrying about how I look?"
Other Clues:
- Values are often discovered by: admiring someone, appreciating something in nature or human life, having difficult emotions (especially doubt, confusion, helplessness, shame, embarrassment, regret, grief) and realizing a new way you wanted to live or something that was newly important to you, or experimenting with how you try to act in a certain kind of situation.
- Values are specific enough that you might remember to approach things in the way you value in some circumstances, and forget in others. In other words, they are precise enough to guide you in specific concrete situations that you face in life.
Write it clearly and inspiringly
Write your values on meeting supplies by thinking about three things.
- What's meaningful to me about this? What kind of meaning was I experiencing? Try to explain it a bit.
- Why do I think this is how I want to live? You may want to add a few words about why it's important.
- How would I help another person recognize the value of living this way? You can always view value as a bit of advice about what to attend to. It's a kind of instruction that's like, hey, in this kind of situation, pay attention to this. And you'll realize that when you pay attention to this, that path of attention itself is how you want to live.
If you phrase your value correctly, people who don't have that value yet might see the wisdom in your value when they read it. They will think to themselves "I should try being that way!".