LET VALUES DRIVE YOUR CHOICES

 

Nearly every problem you face is temporary. But these temporary problems cause immediate pain. And we often let this pain drive our choices and actions.

For example,…

·         An employee suffering from the pain of not feeling important enough or powerful enough might take a terrible job with a fancy title.

·         An individual suffering from the pain of feeling unloved or unappreciated or misunderstood might try to resolve that pain by cheating on their spouse.

·         An entrepreneur suffering from the pain of a faltering small business might resort to using questionable marketing tactics to try to drive more sales.

This is how you make choices you would not normally make. When you let the problem drive your decisions, you make exceptions and “just this once” choices to resolve the pain, annoyance, or uncertainty that you are feeling in the moment.

How can we avoid this pitfall and make better long-term choices while still resolving short-term pain?

Below is an approach that you could try. It should work for you…

Let Your Values Drive Your Choices

One of the solutions that you could try out is to let your values drive your choices. That does not mean you ignore other aspects of your decision-making process. You simply add your core values into the mix.

For example, if you are working on a problem in your business, rather than just asking, “Will this make money?”

Instead, you can ask, “Is this in alignment with your values?” And then, “Will this make money?”

If you say no to either, then you should look for another option.

The idea behind this method is that if we live and work in alignment with our values, then we are more likely to live a life we are proud of rather than one we regret.

The Power of a Constraint You Believe In

Every decision is made within some type of constraint. Maybe it is how much knowledge you have. Maybe it is how much money you have. Maybe it is how many resources you have.

Making better choices is often a matter of choosing better constraints. By limiting your options to those that fit your values, you are taking an important step to ensuring that your behaviour matches your beliefs. 

Know your principles and you can choose your methods.

How to Put This into Practice

Most people never take the time to think about their values, write them down, and clarify them. Maybe it sounds too simple or unnecessary.

You should sit down to clarify your values and tie them directly to your work.

You are welcome to use an online template to discover your own values and for aligning them with your work and life.

The Bottom Line

If you never sit down to think about your values, then you will be more likely to make decisions based on whatever information is in front of you at the time. That can be a recipe for regret down the road.

Life is complex and we are all faced with moments in our personal and professional lives that require us to make a choice without as much information as we need. The default assumption is that we need more knowledge or research in these situations, but often we just need a clear understanding of our values.

If you do not know what you stand for and where you are headed, then it is far too easy to get off course, to waste your time doing something you do not need to be doing, or to make an exception (“just this once”) that leads you down a dangerous path. There are brilliant men and women with decent hearts and families they care dearly about spending a long time in jail right now because they made business decisions that were based on the pain they felt and not the values they believed in.

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