How much time are you willing to spend investing in your values? If values could be listed on the stock exchange, I’ll throw in my entire fortune to acquire the shares. Why? Because they give you the highest return on investments compared to any other kinds of stocks. A self-acclaimed financial know-how once deduced that if values were turned into shares, they can yield up to 68.32% of compounded interest per annum. Statistics proudly brought to you by TheLostOne. Okay. Just kidding. But you know they’re important.

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!