Part of Being

1. Check that you’re living this way because of broad benefits, because it’s directly part of the good life for you, not because of a clear goal or fear (such as “acting normal”, “being accepted”, “making money”, etc).
2. Make sure it isn’t an internalized norm
3. Make sure it isn’t a goal or a way to meet others’ expectations
4. Check if it’s likely to be one value. If there are clashing emotions, its likely your story is too large in scope. Try zooming in to one specific moment.

Attentional Policy (Middle part of the card)

Refine their content

1. Attention and Meaning. Make sure that the attentional policies aren’t preparation for the meaningful experience, but that actually attending to these things and choosing by them feels meaningful itself.

See 🔦Chapter 2. Attention and Meaning

2. Instructional. Imagine a friend has this value, and they are in a context where things that are meaningful in this way are happening around them—or they are in an environment where they could easily live by the value. But, they haven’t noticed this yet. If you slipped them this card- would they see exactly what to attend to, to make this experience meaningful?
3. Clear enough for surveys. Is the value card clear enough that you’d know what to ask a group of people to see if it was happening for them or not?
4. Can Guide Design. Imagine giving your values card to someone who’s going to make a special party or event for you, designed around your value. Would such a person understand — just from seeing the value — what's meaningful to you?

Write them well

1. Not too specific. Are the attention policies articulated in such a way that leaves room for the person to apply them in multiple contexts?
2. Not too broad. Are the attention policies articulated in such a way that the person knows what to do accurately?
3. Not overly-poetic. Are the attention policies clear and unambiguous?
4. Positively stated. Are all the attention policies things you WANT TO attend to? (no negative language like ‘ignore’ ‘be free from…’ etc.)

Holistic

1. Make sure every Attention Policy has at least one corresponding Part of Being and vice versa.

Last Steps

• Title. The title should be pithy and unlikely to be confused with nearby values.
• Separate values?Are there multiple values here? Are there multiple ways of being that can be distinguished, where someone could value one but not the other?

To practice using this checklist, do this:

👎Sorting Values Task