Welcome to the Value Exchange…
I thought that relating values to stock investments will be a fun analogy. So here’s a short tutorial on how to invest in values. If you read the previous post and did your own ranking, I’m sure you already have your list of top ten values. This is the first step to mastering value investment.

Step One: Market research 
Based on your own evaluation, form your top ten list of values.

People generally hate this first step. They say it’s boring. To abide by our slogan, “We Walk the Talk”, I made my own list too. Didn’t take me more than five minutes.

Step Two: Value purchase
Something like stock purchase. Except that you don’t deal with brokers. Instead of money, you’ll need to invest your time and effort each day to carry out an activity that upholds your choice of value(s).

Assuming that you choose three values – love, friends and success – that you want to invest in this week. Grab yourself three bottles or containers and label them. Each time you make an investment, drop a small note into the bottle. Say you helped your best friend clean up his house this week, drop a note into the “friends” bottle. Start small. Focusing on one value at a time might work better for you.

Step Three: Monitor
No different from how you monitor the stock market.

At the end of each week, check out the extent to which each of your bottles are filled. Happy with the distribution? Are you doing more of what you value the most?

Step Four: Get your dividends
Unlike the typical stock exchange, you can’t sell stocks here. You are paid dividends though.

Watch how your life is improves as you slowly align your daily actions with your values. Subconsciously, you’ll start to feel a sense of balance and consistency. You are happier. You feel better about your life. Your business prospers. Your love life enhances. Your family and friends start to know you better. And life just keeps paying dividends to you.

Say Goodbye to Value Dilemma…
Now that you are sure about your value hierarchy and have reinforced your values through action, the next time you are faced with a dilemma due to conflicting values, you’ll know how to make an appropriate choice won’t you?

P.S. Sometimes, values do change over time. Do the necessary updates to your list then!

What Are Values? 
I kind of liked this definition about values: 
“Values are the beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment, either for or against something.”

A Case of Conflicting Values
Here’s a little case study. What will you do in a situation like this?

It’s your daughter’s third birthday. You have been working late for the past few weeks but you promised you’ll be home early on this special day. You even bought her a doll house from her favourite toy store. It’s 5.30pm on your clock. You are about to leave the office. Suddenly, your boss calls you on your mobile phone. “Hey Dan. There’s this important client that I’ll like you to meet tomorrow. If we manage to clinch a deal with him, your promotion is guaranteed. Let’s discuss this over dinner.”

Family versus work over here. Two conflicting values. Tough choice isn’t it? Well, not if you have your value hierarchy right.

Your daughter?

or

Your work?

What Do You Value Most?
Coming to a decision for the above-mentioned scenario is easy when you know where your priorities lie. If you value family, your daughter’s birthday comes first. If you value your job or wealth more, you might choose the latter. The following are a list of values you might have:

This list is by no means extensive. Check out Steve Pavlina’s list of values. He also wrote an interesting article on values in two parts – “Living Your Values Part I, Part II”.

Rank Your Values!
Start making a list of your values. Like Steve, I recommend that you keep it to your top ten. To prioritize your values, put them through a value funnel. Start off by putting three values to through the funnel. Compare them and ask yourself this, “Of these three, if I were to keep one, what will it be?” To avoid confusion, stick to comparing three or less values each time.

In this example, success is chosen as the most important out of the three. Between family and friends, compare again. Suppose you choose family, you now know that success > family > friends. Repeat the process until you obtain a clear ranking amongst your top ten.

If this way of comparison is too abstract for you, try relating your values to tangible objects, activities or events. For instance, if you are comparing success and love, you might equate success to “being recognized by your others” and love to “an intimate hug with your husband or wife”.

What’s Up Next?
Now that you have identified your top ten values, update your mind-map! In my next post, I’ll discuss about applying values to your life, how to keep your important values in check and using values to make decisions.