About 7 months ago while I was digging through Steve Pavlina’s archives I found this useful web-based tool for prioritizing values. It’s completely free and it will probably tell you quite a bit about yourself you might not have been aware of if you haven’t prioritized your values before. If you want, you can also prioritize your values by hand. The tool is based on this extensive list of values Steve put together and you can also add your own.

The main purpose is to help you become more clear about who you are and also give you direction for where you want to go. It boosts focus because what you value, you will spend time, energy, attention, and money on and it will expand because of that. So if you want to be more healthy place it higher on your values priority list. That way you become clear about the direction you need to take to make that goal a reality. You might begin spending more time reading health books from healthy people and taking the time to try different things.

Doing this exercise multiple times with at least a month in between each time will allow you to see which values stay at the top of your priority list and which move away. For instance, the first time I did this exercise was when I was reading The Power of Now so I put spirituality at the top. But when I started working on building my power and did the exercise again, focus and completion moved up and spirituality disappeared. Some never moved, but only became stronger (I’ll explain that later). I must say it’s important that you be as honest with yourself as possible.

Here’s my results after completing the exercise four times.

First time February 22, 2009

1. Spirituality
2. Honesty
3. Freedom
4. Knowledge
5. Health
6. Flow
7. Impact
8. Growth
9. Creativity
10. Persistence
11. Vision
12. Clarity

2nd Time May 20, 2009

1. Freedom
2. Giving
3. Peace
4. Wisdom
5. Vision
6. Persistence
7. Growth
8. Health
9. Flow
10. Creativity
11. Focus

This is when I really understood how sowing and reaping works which is why giving was so high. I watched this video on building web communities and it just clicked, so I really was focused on contribution.

3rd Time July 28, 2009

1. Freedom
2. Growth
3. Wisdom
4. Truth
5. Power
6. Vision
7. Persistence
8. Focus
9. Contribution
10. Giving
11. Health
12. Completion
13. Flow

4th time August 20, 2009

1. Freedom
2. Growth
3. Intelligence
4. Power
5. Health
6. Contribution
7. Vision
8. Focus
9. Persistence
10. Flow
11. Creativity
12. Love

Self Analysis

What can I take from this? Well I notice that some are more than values. I can value flow but that doesn’t bring up as much emotion in me as freedom or wisdom/intelligence does. I will probably prioritize freedom at the top each time. I’m pretty sure intelligence and growth will always be at the top as well. Next time I might not even include those because they’re just givens.

I also noticed that August 20, 2009 was the first time I could honestly put love on the list. I thought that was pretty interesting. Other than love and contribution all the other ones are “me” related. I want to be more intelligent. I want to be healthier. I want to have power to pursue my goals. I suppose when you dedicate your life to serving, giving, and contribution then love is a natural consequence and I imagine it will get stronger as time goes by. It resonates more with me to describe contribution as striving for a win-win for me and anyone who reads this blog. What does it mean if I’m happier, healthier, wealthier if those who I serve are not.

You try

This is all just what I’ve learned from doing it for a while. I would say the best benefit of doing this exercise is learning more about myself and as you learn more about who you are on the inside you start understanding why your outside is the way it is.

Try it out. Feel free to share your results. I’d be interested to see how other people prioritize their values. It would tell me a lot about you in a very short amount of time if you were living or striving to live those values.

Related Articles

1. 10 Things That Make You Feel Good
2. The Law of Attraction
3. Suspend Disbelief
4. One-Year Review
5. A Focus on Completion
6. From Weight Loss to Good Health
7. The Different Areas of Life Support Each Other