Aligning Your Task List with the Values All Humans Share
Aligning Your Task List with the Values All Humans Share
Value-driven tasks lead to better time management
No AI here; all words, ideas, and faults 100% human made. While paid subscribers are enormously encouraging and help me to keep writing, non-subscribers are always welcome to read for free.
Human beings value different things, and tend to prioritize those things based on their current stage of life. What we value will inevitably guide our daily actions.
Carl Pullein and Shalom H. Schwartz have compiled lists of what they believe to be values all humans — or human societies — share. Benjamin Franklin made no such claims, but his list of 13 virtues have inspired me for decades.
Carl refers to eight values, or Areas of Focus. Their order in your life will depend on your current priorities.
Relationships — the important sentient beings in your life
Spirituality — connection with a higher power
Health and Fitness — physical health
Personal Development — increasing knowledge, skills
Finances — handling money well
Career and Business — being a competent, successful worker
Life Purpose — the thing/s you feel driven to do
Lifestyle and Life Experiences — things to own, places to go
This page from Carl’s blog is exactly as it appears in his book (which I paid for) and I don’t mind that one bit. It’s good to have all the info in one holdable format, and I appreciate that the guy freely shares his insights online.
Shalom H. Schwartz talks about ten basic values that he believes most cultures share. They are —
Self-Direction — independent thought
Stimulation — novelty, challenge
Hedonism — pleasure
Achievement — personal success
Power — dominance over people or things
Security — safety, harmony, stability
Conformity — restraining harmful actions
Tradition — respect, commitment, acceptance
Benevolence — helping those close to you
Universalism — appreciate and respect the wider world
Insightful, but really not coming from the same angle as Carl’s list. The latter is a collection of life areas, each of which could be assigned subsets of Schwartz’ values.
In designing my own list I’m considering both life areas and overarching values. There’s some overlap. I’m not usually an emoji person, but for this exercise-in-progress I’m finding them helpful.
Focus Areas for the Things I Do:
🌟 Spirituality — strengthening my connection with the Divine
💜 People — family, friends, pets
🥕 Health — physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing
🧠 Learning — personal development
🕯️ Purpose — my contribution to the world
💻 Business — my job
💰 Finances — how I relate to and manage money
👜 Lifestyle — possessions and experiences
Key Values That Guide Every Area and Task:
🕊️ Faith — an active, humble belief in a personal God who loves me is the foundation of my life
🧭 Integrity — aligning my actions with my understanding of right and wrong
⚪ Simplicity — removing distractions in order to focus on what matters most (h/t Joshua Becker)
🗂 Order — keeping both time, and things, well ordered
🎒 Self-Reliance — taking responsibility for my own direction and progress, and never blaming external influences for my situation or state of mind
Currently I’m going through the exercise of tagging my projects and tasks with the area that fits them best. Each area tag begins with a capital letter, and ends with an emoji. (I’d initially put the emoji first, but that complicates auto-complete.)
Interestingly, some tasks have been difficult to categorise! It’s really making me think about the why behind items on my To Do list.
My theory is that every single task worthy of being done must relate to an area and align with one or more values. Clearly defining personal values and what they mean to me is showing my projects and tasks in a clearer light. Value-tags tell future-me why I should care about this task.
Whether or not I continue the practice isn’t the point; for the moment it’s guiding, reinforcing, and strengthening my direction, and I love that!
FYI I’m doing this in Apple’s Reminders app, but the app is irrelevant. It should work anywhere.
You may find Carl Pullein’s Areas of Focus workbook (and other downloadables) helpful in compiling your own list. Remember to consider the difference between areas of your life, and the overarching values you apply to them.
Website update
I’m optimistic that my independent website will be up and running soon. Giving up on Blot was a decision reluctantly made, due to lack of support from what appears to be the singular developer running the project. Quartz is what I’m pursuing now. Navigating Git authorisation is proving harder than expected!
I love hearing from readers, and I’m always looking for feedback. Comments? Found an error? Let me know on Mastodon, or hit reply if you received this as an email. Looking for a way to support my work? It’s here.