My 12 Operating Values (and how to find your own)
For most of my life I've struggled to make decisions.
It could be a big decision, like where to live, what projects to work on, or who to spend my time with. Or it could a small decision, like what to order at a restaurant, what book to read, or whether to go out or stay in.
I would spend too much time flip-flopping between options, always lacking clarity. That lack of clarity led to inconsistent decisions, which led to inconsistent results.
I realized I needed some kind of guiding framework for making decisions.
To create that framework, I needed operating values.
What is an operating value?
An operating value is an overarching concept that can be applied across every area of our lives.
There are two types of operating values: implicit and explicit.
Implicit operating values are the subconscious operating values that guide our decisions.
Explicit operating values are the values we say are guiding our decisions.
The goal is to align our implicit and explicit operating values, which leads to predictable, consistent decisions.
But this is easier said than done.
Without explicit operating values, my decisions were made through my implicit operating values. Since these are subconscious, I was flying blind, never clearly understanding why I made decisions the way I did.
So I started creating a list of concepts that I would ideally make decisions with. Armed with this ideal framework, I started reflecting on my decisions. This helped me find where I was saying one thing, but doing another.
My explicit operating values
- Acceptance: to embrace the truth of every circumstance.
- Leverage: to maximize output per unit of input.
- Efficiency: to minimize input per unit of output.
- Momentum: to work like a flywheel, every step easier than the next.
- Ownership: to be self-reliant, independent, and take matters into my own hands.
- Polarity: to operate in extremes, fully on or fully off, and to avoid the greyscale.
- Patience: to understand great things take time and to respect the force of compounding.
- Empathy: to actively seek to see things through other's perspectives.
- Gratitude: to appreciate the little things, the ups and downs, and to take nothing for granted.
- Honesty: to confidently express opinions, interpretations, and motives with myself and others.
- Clarity: to meticulously question everything, removing all ambiguity.
- Transparency: to share all parts of my journey, from the greatest struggles to the greatest successes.
How I found my operating values
Creating my list of operating values has been a methodical, iterative process. I'm constantly adding new ones as I come across them and removing ones that no longer apply.
The first value on my list was Ownership after reading Urban Meyer's Above the Line and Jocko Willink's Discipline Equals Freedom. Then came Leverage, Efficiency, and Momentum as I read more ideas from Naval, Paul Graham, and Jim Collins. After that, it was Acceptance, Gratitude, and Honesty after reading Radical Acceptance and Already Free. These ideas resonated so heavily with me that I wanted to make them a part of everything I did.
From there, I've added values from living life, making mistakes, and learning from experience.
For example, I recently added the value:
Polarity: to operate in extremes, fully on or fully off, and to avoid the greyscale.
I've found that my best results come from working at the extremes, fully on or fully off. My most disappointing results come from working in between extremes, what I call the greyscale.
I work best with binary constraints, and I think a lot of people do too. There's a reason that nobody runs red lights, but everybody goes a little over the speed limit.
I try to live this in as many ways as I can. I like to follow a very strict diet with the occasional blow out treat meal (as opposed to a "balanced" diet). I'll alternate between sprinting and walking, but I never jog. I'll work for 16 hours straight, then not look at a screen for two days. I'll only work on something if I can give it 100% of my effort, otherwise, I say no.
This is a personal preference, which is the best part of having personal operating values. You find the ones that work for you through trial and error.
Aside from personal experience, there's a high bar for adding something to the list. But sometimes, I'll hear someone articulate something so clearly, that resonates so heavily, that I can't help but add it to my list. These are rare, but I know when I hear it.
How I use my operating values
Having explicit operating values is one thing. But living my life according to them is another. My process for aligning my implicit and explicit operating values is through reminder and reflection.
Reminder
Every morning, I read my operating values within ten minutes of waking up. This is my way of reminding myself "here are the values I want to govern my decisions today. If I follow them, today will be a good day."
Aside from this daily practice, I consult this list of values when I am faced with a difficult decision. I run through the list and ask myself "if I let each of these guide my decision, what decision would I make?"
This usually puts me on the right path.
Reflection
Reminders are good, but the real benefit of having a list of operating values comes through reflection. It's through periodic reflection that I can begin to see where I'm saying one thing, but doing another.
My reflection comes during my daily journaling practice. Once a week, I'll pick one of my values at random, reflecting on whether or not I've been living it. I'll do a big brain dump of everything I've done that has to do with that value, then start thinking where I could better apply it. I always walk away with some takeaways that I can apply immediately.
Other times, I'll reflect on the entire list of values through the lens of one decision I made in the past. This one takes a bit longer, but it forces me to be honest with myself. This honesty is often difficult, but it's where I make the most progress.
Achieving this alignment is a work in progress, but I try to get a little closer every day.
How to set your operating values in 15 minutes
If you've never thought about your operating values, don't worry. You don't have to figure them all out in one go.
This is something you'll build up over the years and hopefully decades. The best thing to do is to get started with these three steps.
- Read the list of values below. Pick five of them and write them on a 3x5 index card.
- Put the index card next to your bed and read them every morning after waking up.
- At the end of the week, spend ten minutes reflecting on each value on the back of the index card. Probe your actions and decisions in the past week, seeing whether or not you were aligned with these values.
- Do this every week for a month. After a month, you should have a good idea of some values to add, some to remove, and the role your list will play in your life.
57 Potential Values
- Acceptance: to be open to and accepting of myself, others, life, etc.
- Adventure: to be adventurous; to actively seek, create, or explore novel or stimulating experiences
- Assertiveness: to respectfully stand up for my rights and request what I want
- Authenticity: to be authentic, genuine, and real; to be true to myself
- Beauty: to appreciate, create, nurture, or cultivate beauty in myself, others, the environment, etc.
- Caring: to be caring toward myself, others, the environment, etc.
- Challenge: to keep challenging myself to grow, learn, and improve
- Compassion: to act with kindness toward those who are suffering
- Conformity: to be respectful and obedient of rules and obligations
- Connection: to engage fully in whatever I am doing, and be fully present with others
- Contribution: to contribute, help, assist, or make a positive difference to myself or others
- Cooperation: to be cooperative and collaborative with others
- Courage: to be courageous or brave; to persist in the face of fear, threat, or difficulty
- Creativity: to be creative or innovative
- Curiosity: to be curious, open-minded, and interested; to explore and discover
- Encouragement: to encourage and reward behavior that I value in myself or others
- Equality: to treat others as equal to myself, and vice versa
- Excitement: to seek, create, and engage in activities that are exciting, stimulating, or thrilling
- Fairness: to be fair to myself or others
- Fitness: to maintain or improve my fitness; to look after my physical and mental health and well-being
- Flexibility: to adjust and adapt readily to changing circumstances
- Forgiveness: to be forgiving toward myself or others
- Freedom: to live freely; to choose how I live and behave, or help others do likewise
- Friendliness: to be friendly, companionable, or agreeable toward others
- Fun: to be fun-loving; to seek, create, and engage in fun-filled activities
- Generosity: to be generous, sharing, and giving, to myself or others
- Gratitude: to be grateful for and appreciative of the positive aspects of myself, others, and life
- Honesty: to be honest, truthful, and sincere with myself and others
- Humility: to be humble or modest; to let my achievements speak for themselves
- Humor: to see and appreciate the humorous side of life
- Independence: to be self-supportive, and choose my own way of doing things
- Industry: to be industrious, hard-working, and dedicated
- Intimacy: to open up, reveal, and share myself — emotionally or physically — in my close personal relationships
- Justice: to uphold justice and fairness
- Kindness: to be kind, compassionate, considerate, nurturing, or caring toward myself or others
- Love: to act lovingly or affectionately toward myself or others
- Mindfulness: to be conscious of, open to, and curious about my here-and-now experience
- Open-mindedness: to think things through, see things from others’ points of view, and weigh evidence fairly
- Order: to be orderly and organized
- Patience: to wait calmly for what I want
- Persistence: to continue resolutely, despite problems or difficulties
- Pleasure: to create and give pleasure to myself or others
- Power: to strongly influence or wield authority over others, e.g., taking charge, leading, organizing
- Reciprocity: to build relationships in which there is a fair balance of giving and taking
- Respect: to be respectful toward myself or others; to be polite, be considerate, and show positive regard
- Responsibility: to be responsible and accountable for my actions
- Romance: to be romantic; to display and express love or strong affection
- Safety: to secure, protect, or ensure safety of myself or others
- Self-awareness: to be aware of my own thoughts, feelings, and actions
- Self-care: to look after my health and well-being, and get my needs met
- Self-control: to act in accordance with my own ideals
- Self-development: to keep growing, advancing, or improving in knowledge, skills, character, or life experience.
- Sensuality: to create, explore, and enjoy experiences that stimulate the five senses
- Skillfulness: to continually practice and improve my skills, and apply myself fully when using them
- Spirituality: to connect with things bigger than myself
- Supportiveness: to be supportive, helpful, encouraging, and available to myself or others
- Trust: to be trustworthy; to be loyal, faithful, sincere, and reliable