Articulating a value in words doesn't necessarily help you live it better. But you still might want to write out a value you have for various reasons, including:
- To tell someone what's important to you.
- To find others who share the value, by circulating a text.
- On a design project, to set a clear objective, or to check if users share the value, and whether your design helps them live by it.
- To inspire strangers. 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 could try being that way!".
Each of these has different requirements, in terms of copy. But there are some things to keep in mind that will help with all four.
Here we'll walk you through the steps towards writing out a value.
Note: The values written here and in the following examples are pretty condensed. Sometimes it helps to write very expansively and then focus, and sometimes the value demands lengthy descriptions.
Preliminaries
Make sure what you are trying to write is a value.
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.
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.
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
The 3 Parts of a Value
An articulated value should have three parts. (1) The Context, (2) The Attentional Policy, and (3) The Source of Meaning. The most important part (and usually the trickiest to articulate well) is the (2) Attentional Policy.
The general formula is:
In {CONTEXT X} {ATTEND TO A, B, C} so that {SOURCE OF MEANING}.
Here are 3 examples:
When Socializing, keep an eye to how I can show up messy, take up space planlessly and egotistically. This lets me be bold and playful.
When meeting new people keep an eye towards things that they are passionate about and what excites them, when I do this life gets curious, alive, fast-paced, and deep.
Read old books with an eye for gaps from my current perspective, alien underlying assumptions, extinct ideologies and perspectives, revealing to me my unique historical and social location in humanity.
Note: Avoid Vagueness and Poetry The most common error is vagueness. Values are precise enough to guide you in specific concrete situations that you face in life.
Bad formulations
- "I value community". Imagine asking a theater director how you should play a friendship scene, and she says "community". Would you feel like you knew how to proceed? I think you see the problem.
- "Be Kind". Again, it's not clear how I could approach the situation, or what potential choices should stand out. I can't design with this formulation of my value.
- "Approaching things with a concrete sense of philosophical equanimity". What does that even mean? Often people will come up with a value that sounds interesting, poetic, or smart, but is actually so abstract that it doesn't matter to them in direct experience.
- "Stand by people as they figure things out". That's better, but what does "stand by people" or "figure things out" actually mean for me?
- "See the plank in my own eye when I look at the speck in yours". This might be capturing what inspires me when I reflect on my experience. But how would I act on this Biblical image? It's better to use less poetic language.
1) How could you formulate this phrase so that what you mean is harder to misunderstand?
2) Is it more about THIS or THAT?
- Imagine conflicting interpretations of the value, and ask if it's more about this or that.
- Reminder: it can always be neither or both.
3) Look for opportunities to ZOOM IN / ZOOM OUT
- Zoom in by exporing what a particular word means to your interviewee;
- Zoom out to see how that changes the current way you phrase the value.
4) Give the improvisational directive to a twelve-year old
Context
All values have a context where we want to live by them. Being 'kind and gracious' might be someone's value when socializing with friends, and being 'ruthless and harsh' might be a good way to live in a martial arts class.
Starting with clarifying the context is usually the intuitive and safe way to go.
Attentional Policy
You can always view a 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.
1) Imagine somebody in the context where your value can be lived.
2) What are the improvisational directives you might give them? Get specific!
3) What would they have to attend to in order to act that way?
4) Write those down. Write more than you think you need, and then get rid of what is superfluous.
Source of Meaning
A value should also give at least some readers a sense of why it's meaningful to live that way. Not everyone will get it, but the text should contain clues about why it's important to you to pay attention to that rather than other things in this context.
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?"
One way to make sure your source of meaning isn't actually a goal is by noticing the relationship between the attentional policy and the source of meaning. If the relationship is one of cause and effect, you're probably looking at a goal. If the relationship is one that the attentional policy is a manifestation of the source of meaning or a very broad category you've probably got a legit source of meaning.
Chunking with a Title
Once you have a fully articulated value, it's useful to name the value something short and catchy. This helps you remember the value (which will help you live by it), and also allows for a more flowing communication once you've relayed the value.
Now check out an example of how this process might look: