Values — One tiny word that runs the world

Shakira. Beyoncé. JLo.

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The most beautiful, successful women in the world.

… yet they’ve all been cheated on.

• FTX
• Theranos
• Enron

The most innovative, brightest companies in the world.

… yet they all went bankrupt.

How the fuck?

The answer is simple — only 1 word.

Values.

One tiny idea with a giant impact on human behavior.

… and it doesn’t control only one person — it also works on a mass scale.

On the largest scale.

Let’s answer the most important questions:

• What are core values?
• What does the list of values look like?
• What are the best examples of values?
• What are my values?
• What are your values?

… and the key to all these theories: how to use them in practice?

“It’s often the small things that no one sees that result in the big things that everyone wants.”

—Craig Groeschel

What is a value (at its core)?

Values (also called “core values”) are the fundamental principles that help you (singular = personal values) and others (plural = corporate values) decide what is right and what is wrong.

It’s like an internal compass.

These beliefs are fundamental but not universal — they depend on the community, culture, society you live in. Everyone has a different North Star.

… and we have a lot of them.

There are similar ones and different ones — these make up our character traits.

… and those traits build up our personality.

From which our identity is formed.

Which are ultimately… our self.

“Watch your actions; they become habit.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”

—Lao Tzu

Values are not equally strong — every star has a different size, shape and brightness.

That’s why we have an inner telescope, too.

We look at the world through this telescope.

This is how we value everything, like:

• ideas
• companies
• people

Just as they value us.

… and this affects you.

At first, only your feelings.

Then, your thinking.

Finally, your behavior.

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”

—Gandhi

So you are like an onion.¹Not because you’re crying. And no, you don’t stink. I told you: “important” extras! <— Click these orange numbers for important extras.

You are an onion, because on the surface, you are very similar to your peers. But deep inside, you have more layers — the trinity of psychology:

• emotions
• thoughts
• behavior

… and at the core of it all, your values. Core values.

To resist the values of others, you need to know who you are.

To do this, you need to know your values — what you value in the world.

That’s why your personal values are a bit FUCKING important.

If you know who you are, you will be in control of:

• Yourself
• Your work

The two side of greatness.

… or, in different words:

• Your life (personal values)
• Your masterpieces (corporate values)

You’ll create something great with less and less energy investment, as values free up cognitive capacity — you’ll always have a cheat sheet to base your decisions on.

To show you what it means in practice, read this:

Power of values — the perfect example

I introduce you to Herb Kelleher, the co-founder and the longest-running CEO of Southwest Airlines — one of the top 5 airlines.

When Herb was asked about the secret of the company’s success, he famously said that “I can teach you the secret of running my business… in only 30 seconds.”

We are THE low-fare airline.

Once you understand this fact, you can make any decision about the company’s future as well as I can.

Imagine that Tracy from the marketing department comes to your office and tells you that passengers might enjoy a salad from Houston to Las Vegas — based on a survey. But we serve only peanuts.

How would you respond?

You ask Tracy ‘Will adding a chicken salad to the menu will make us THE low-fare airline from Houston to Las Vegas? Because if it doesn’t, then we are not serving any damn chicken salad.”

Values simplify decisions.

“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.”

—ROY DISNEY

And as they consume less and less energy, they eventually become automatic — gut feeling.

It will be the basis for you to decide how much energy you will invest in your most important life goals — the three buckets.

• What career will you choose?
• Who will be the important people in your life?
• How healthy will you be physically, mentally?

And the three main areas of life — wealth, health, happiness — will affect the small decisions you make every day:

• how you spend your time
• who you spend your time with
• how you think about time

Your values become your life.

Be careful!

These small values are extremely huge. Deep down, these will be your measures of how you value your life. If you don’t have good values (or you take someone else’s), you will feel your buckets — your life — empty.

Be very careful.

“Don’t play games that aren’t worth winning.”

—Anonymous

Well, that was the scary part.

The good news is that you can shape your values yourself.

You can be wealthy, healthy and happy at the same time.

But how?

Before I show you, I’ll first give you a list of values available — to see how many stars shine in the sky (and drive human actions).

The list of values

• Abundance
• Acceptance
• Accomplishment
• Accountability
• Accountability
• Accuracy
• Achievement
• Adaptability
• Adventure
• Adventurousness
• Affection
• Agreeableness
• Alertness
• Altruism
• Ambition
• Amiability
• Amusement
• Amusingness
• Appreciativeness
• Art
• Articulateness
• Assertiveness
• Athleticism
• Attentive
• Attentiveness
• Authenticity
• Authority
• Autonomy
• Awareness
• Awe
• Balance
• Beauty
• Being admirable
• Being dynamic
• Being earnest
• Being famous
• Being folksy
• Being frank
• Being methodical
• Being personable
• Being reasonable
• Being skilled
• Being thoughtful
• Being understanding
• Benevolence
• Big-thinking
• Bliss
• Boldness
• Boldness
• Bravery
• Bravery
• Brilliance
• Calm
• Calmness
• Candor
• Capability
• Capable
• Careful
• Carefulness
• Caring
• Caring
• Cautiousness
• Certainty
• Challenge
• Change
• Charisma
• Charity
• Charity
• Charm
• Cheerfulness
• Citizenship
• Clarity
• Cleanliness
• Cleanliness
• Clear
• Clear-headedness
• Clever
• Cleverness
• Comfort
• Commitment
• Common sense
• Communication
• Community
• Compassion
• Competence
• Competency
• Complexity
• Concentration
• Confidence
• Connection
• Conscientiousness
• Consciousness
• Conservativeness
• Consideration
• Consistency
• Constructiveness
• Contemplation
• Contentment
• Contribution
• Control
• Conviction
• Cooperation
• Courage
• Courteousness
• Courtesy
• Craftiness
• Creation
• Creativity
• Credibility
• Curiosity
• Daringness
• Decency
• Decisive
• Decisiveness
• Decisiveness
• Dedication
• Deep thought
• Democracy
• Dependability
• Determination
• Development
• Devotion
• Dignity
• Diligence
• Discipline
• Discovery
• Diversity
• Drive
• Dualism
• Dutifulness
• Easygoingness
• Education
• Effectiveness
• Efficiency
• Elegance
• Eloquence
• Emotional awareness
• Emotional control
• Empathy
• Empower
• Empowerment
• Endurance
• Energy
• Enjoyment
• Enthusiasm
• Equality
• Ethical
• Ethics
• Excellence
• Excitement
• Expedience
• Experience
• Experimenting
• Expertise
• Exploration
• Expressiveness
• Extraordinary experiences
• Fairness
• Faith
• Faithfulness
• Fame
• Family
• Farsightedness
• Fashion
• Fearless
• Feelings
• Fidelity
• Fitness
• Flair
• Flexibility
• Focus
• Foresight
• Forgiveness
• Forgiving
• Forthrightness
• Fortitude
• Freedom
• Freethinking
• Friendliness
• Friendliness
• Friendship
• Friendships
• Fun
• Fun-loving attitude
• Generosity
• Gentleness
• Genuineness
• Giving
• Glamorousness
• Good-nature
• Goodness
• Grace
• Gracefulness
• Graciousness
• Gratitude
• Greatness
• Growth
• Happiness
• Hard work
• Harmony
• Health
• Helpfulness
• Heroicness
• Honesty
• Honor
• Hope
• Humbleness
• Humility
• Humor
• Idealism
• Imagination
• Incisiveness
• Independence
• Individualism
• Individuality
• Influence
• Inner Harmony
• Innovation
• Insightful
• Insightfulness
• Inspiration
• Inspiring
• Integrity
• Intelligence
• Intensity
• Intuition
• Intuitive
• Intuitiveness
• Inventiveness
• Joy
• Joy/Fun
• Justice
• Kindness
• Kindness
• Knowledge
• Lawful
• Lawfulness
• Leadership
• Learning
• Liberty
• Life direction
• Life experience
• Likability
• Logic
• Love
• Loyalty
• Mastery
• Maturity
• Meaning
• Meaningful Work
• Mellowness
• Moderation
• Modesty
• Motivation
• Neatness
• Neutrality
• Newness
• Niceness
• Obedience
• Objectivity
• Open-mindedness
• Openness
• Optimism
• Optimism
• Order
• Organization
• Originality
• Passion
• Patience
• Patriotism
• Peace
• Peacefulness
• Performance
• Perseverance
• Persistence
• Playfulness
• Pleasure
• Poise
• Popularity
• Positive attitude
• Positivity
• Potential
• Power
• Practicality
• Preciseness
• Principles
• Productivity
• Professionalism
• Promise-keeping
• Prosperity
• Protection
• Punctuality
• Purpose
• Quality
• Rationality
• Realism
• Recognition
• Recreation
• Reflection
• Relaxation
• Reliability
• Religion
• Reputation
• Resourcefulness
• Respect
• Respect for others
• Responsibility
• Restraint
• Results-oriented
• Rigor
• Risk
• Romance
• Satisfaction
• Security
• Security​
• Self-actualization
• Self-awareness
• Self-development
• Self-improvement
• Self-love
• Self-reliance
• Self-Respect
• Self-sufficiency
• Selfless
• Selflessness
• Sensitivity
• Serenity
• Service
• Sharing
• Silence
• Simplicity
• Sincerity
• Skillfulness
• Smarts
• Sociability
• Social connection
• Solitude
• Sophistication
• Speed
• Spirituality
• Spontaneity
• Stability
• Status
• ​Status
• Steadiness
• Stewardship
• Strength
• Structure
• Studiousness
• Success
• Support
• Surprise
• Sustainability
• Sweetness
• Sympathy
• Teamwork
• Temperance
• Tenderness
• Thankful
• Thorough
• Thoroughness
• Thoughtful
• Tidiness
• Timeliness
• Tolerance
• Toughness
• Tradition
• Traditional
• Tranquility
• Transformation
• Transparency
• Trust
• Trustworthiness
• Trustworthy
• Truth
• Understanding
• Uniqueness
• Unity
• Variety
• Vision
• Vitality
• Vivaciousness
• Warmth
• Wealth
• Welcoming
• Well-roundedness
• Winning
• Wisdom
• Wit

This is a list of values — in general.

Pretty useless.

The important question is: what are YOUR values?

What are YOUR values?

Values can be selected, or discovered.

But one thing is for sure: you will have values anyway. The question is, do you choose them consciously or do they just emerge unconsciously?

You can choose them — or they will choose you.

The former is the goal.

To get there, you need two steps:

1. Theory — finding your values
2. Practice — using your values

Finding your values is hard. Sticking to them is almost impossible.

… almost.

Be the 0.00001% who do.

“Extreme people get extreme results.”

—SAM ALTMAN

1Theory — finding your values

First, you need all the values you care about.

The first step is always to write down the options, just like we did (or will) in the other articles:

• Personal finances
• Habits
• Productivity

A list of values can show you all the possibilities.

If you can’t do it yourself, use the list of values above — it’s not so useless after all, right?

Next, categorize the similar ones.

After this, prioritize them.

Finally, choose 5-7 values (remember, Miller’s law).

Is it that easy? No, this is just the beginning.

Although you now have a list of values you like, this list is sterile — born in a shell without reality. Now comes the stress test.

Answer these easy questions:

• When were you happiest in your life?
• When was the saddest time in your life?
• What does a perfect world look like for you?

Now, you have to listen.

Listen to:

• Who are the influencers you follow?
• What makes you feel emotions?
• How do you behave during a typical day?

Now, answer the hard questions:

• If I had to give up one of my two favorite hobbies forever, which would it be?
• What would you rather give up? Your health at 60, or your favorite foods at 30?
• You lie on your deathbed. What is your biggest regret in life?

Uncomfortable, right? But necessary.

You must live a life completely free of regret — it’s called Regret Minimization, one of the most important mental models. This is what Jeff Bezos used when he decided to start Amazon.

It’s easy to list your values. It’s much harder to choose between them. That’s how you know it works.

Let me help you — with the support of constraints.

The Three NegativeS: limitations, trade-offs, anti-values

Choosing your values are hard, I know. No wonder that we see such a person so rarely.

But why is it so hard?

Because of another mental model called: opportunity cost.

1. Limitations

Selecting a value means giving up one (or more) others.

This is a limitation.

… or, in a different light:

Focus.

What is it?

A picture is worth a thousand words:

So focus in this case means that you don’t embrace all the values — instead, you embrace just a few, but you stick to them even if it’s:

• inconvenient or uncomfortable
• less profitable in that moment
• your partner doesn’t like it

Yeah, it’s a limitation at its finest.

… at least in the short term.

But in the long run, it is much more useful than changing your values in every situation.

• inconvenient or uncomfortable — you grow best outside your comfort zone
• less profitable in that moment — but later it’s compounding
• your partner doesn’t like it — but (s)he will respect you to have values

On the level of personal values, if you eat healthily, you won’t be able to eat cheaper, tastier, unhealthy foods — it’s a limitation. But in return, you’ll be much better at what you set out to do… to be healthy:

• more energy
• less pain
• longer life

On the level of corporate values, if your company sells only healthy snacks, unhealthy people won’t buy from you — it’s a limitation. But in return, healthy people can find you more quickly, recommend more likely, and identify with you more easily.

So limitation means that you choose your forever values — even if you “limit” yourself.

The next level is to identify the trade-offs.

2. Trade-offs

Values always cost something.

But if you think about it, everything costs something:

• money (you buy it)
• time (you do it)
• energy (you think about it)

That’s why when you determine your value, ask the question:

What am I sacrificing for my values?

Often, values that appear (on the surface) to be similar — but are not — are confronted each other.

For example: bodybuilding vs. health.

Looks the same, right? Well, absolutely fucking not.

The main goal of bodybuilding is to build muscle.
The main goal of health is to be fit.

Do these people seem healthy?

I’ve been building muscles for over a decade, so I know that there are a loooot of better sports for my health.

I’m doing it for aesthetics. But I do other sports (like swimming) to be healthy.

… and bodybuilding isn’t only “good-but-not-great”, they sometimes goes against each other with health:

• Should I drink protein powder — if it absorbs faster, but is artificial?
• Should I eat dinner — if it results in more muscle growth, but breaks the intermittent fasting?
• Should I run — if I like it better, but is it more muscle-decompositive than swimming?

To build good values, you need to include the trade-offs, like:

Being healthy, even if it makes me look less good.

Look at Tom Brady at 45:

After 37 years old, 99% of the QBs retire — meanwhile Brady won FOUR more Super Bowls.

If you erase every-single-thing, stat or trophy that Brady won before turning 37 (so as if he were starting his career at 37), he still might be the Greatest of All Time.

Crazy.

There are better-looking NFL stars, sure:

But healthier? I don’t think so.

So, values are not just benefits or limitations — they’re trade-offs too. And it’s also present in the corporate world!

Every second company advertises itself as a “family”. But if you ask the employees (the “family members”) about it, absolutely no one will say that.

That’s why Netflix’s values are different: “We are a winning team, not a family.” And that’s why they are named in this article, while the other companies are just called “every second company”.

Choose your values, even if it means giving up some.

You know what? Go one step further — there is an even higher level of limitation!

3. Anti-values

Anti-values represent the top of the range of limitations — values that you not only let go of, but strongly condemn.

They are like anti-personas.

In the business world, there are ideal buyers — buyer personas. These are fictional or real buyers who are considered to be the perfect customers, because they:

• never complain
• pay whatever the price
• recommend the product/company

That’s why the company wants to get as many of them as possible.

On the other side, there are the bad customers — anti-personas. These are fictitious or real customers who are considered to be the worst customers, because they:

• always complain
• want everything for less
• give the company a bad reputation

That’s why the company wants to avoid these at all costs.

So when a new customer arrives, the business is trying to find out if he/she is a buyer persona OR an anti-persona? If the former, the company will do everything it can to get it — if the latter, it will do everything it can to avoid it.

For you to do the same, you need to set up a persona — a fictitious or real person who holds the values you reject.

For example, the anti-persona of a healthy person looks like this:

And the anti-persona of a minimalist looks like this:

So to determine your anti-values, ask the question:

What does the person you do NOT want to become look like?

That’s how you find your values — to finding what are NOT your values!

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”

—STEVE JOBS

Your best tools for this:

• Limitations — narrow down the values
• Trade-offs — identify the sacrifices
• Anti-values — describe who you don’t want to become

… aaand now you’ve reached the point where you’ve got your values.

Congratulations!

But remember: it’s all nothing if you are not sticking to them!

“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.”

—Thomas A. Edison

2Practice — using your values

Values can be formed through:

• Experience (e.g.: childhood)
• Environment (e.g.: people)
• Routines (e.g.: habits)

And a bunch of other things: parents, friends, lovers, school, job, community, religion, culture, country. The source of values can be literally anything.

… and the same is true for corporate values — after all, they are created by people.

You already had values, even if you didn’t know about them. Now you have new ones — in theory. Let’s exchange them — in practice.

Use the three factors you see in the list above:

• Experience — create new life situations with them
• Environment — surround yourself with people who have similar values
• Routines — repeat them until they become automatic

How?

• Set your goals with them
• Build your routines on them
• Make decisions based on them

And now, let’s come the fun part — the real world!

The best Personal & corporate examples

1Personal values examples

The world is always shocked when an extremely successful, beautiful, famous woman is cheated on — whether her name is Beyoncé, JLo or Shakira.

• How can you cheat on the best woman in the world?
• How to find someone better than them?
• If it happens to them, what will happen to me?

Well, it’s not about the victim. It’s about the cheater… and his values.

You can be the hottest, cutest, most successful human being — if your partner’s values don’t exclude cheating, you’ll be cheated on.

… and you can be as ugly, bully, or failure as you want — if cheating is not fitting into the other’s values, he’ll never do it.

2Corporate values examples

Integrity. Honesty. Accountability. Respect. Empower people.

Can you name the companies behind them?

I can’t, because these words are just good-sounding clichés.

• Are they nice? Yes.
• Are they true? Maybe.
• Do they inspire? Absolutely fucking not.

… oh wait, I remember!

FTX. Theranos. Enron.

Decades of prison sentences — condensed into a few words.

This is what happens when your values suck.

But there’s another difficulty:

Values are not only shit when they’re dishonest, but also when they are meaningless.

That’s a big problem, because they are not harmless, as anybody thinks:

“If I select the wrong values, they are ignored at worst”.

Really? Ask Elizabeth Holmes²Founder of Theranos, Sam-Bankman Fried³Founder of FTX, or Ken Lay⁴CEO of Enron.

Even meaningless (but honest) values are harmful!

• they discredit the company in the eyes of external people (e.g. the company’s customers)
• they also make internal people (e.g.: employees) cynical

After all, these are just the two most important segments of a business.

This is what Hewlett-Packard has recognised.

“The essence of the idea, radical at the time, was that employees’ brainpower was the company’s most important resource. The result was one of the most influential companies of the 20th century.”

—Peter Burrows

The system that have become known as “The HP Way”.

At its core, it’s nothing more than:

• well-defined values
• consistent sticking to them

With them, you can be wealthy, healthy or happy.

Or (if it’s not enough) you can write your name in history, by becoming a king or kingmaker.

As Beyoncé — or as Elizabeth Holmes.

As HP — or as Enron.

The choice is yours.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Take it with you: Recommendations

If you want to see how values play a role at the highest levels, I have two pieces of good news for you!

One is about personal values — and how they took Bob Iger to the CEO chair at Disney and made him the new Walt Disney.

The other one is about corporate values — and how they can make any company go from good to great… by using values.