Getting clear with oneself starts with sorting out what's important from what's not. This past few days, I have dug deep to find:

• The top three values that I need for myself (or I am at risk of walking like the now famous 🦆 one-legged duck ...)
• The top three values that I am able to offer others (the best they can get 😎 from me ...)
• The top three values that I aspire to get (the never ending quest 😛 for more...)
• The top three values that I take for granted (the ones I forgot 🤦 but would not live without!)

So on the back of this... here is some work for you. If you'd like to start the decade with clarity and discover each of these top three values for yourself, you may be able to do so within one hour. It took me a lot longer, but now, I have the work prepared for you. The next paragraph contains a long list of values, ordered alphabetically.

Abundance Acceptance Accessibility Accomplishment Accountability Accuracy Achievement Acknowledgement Activeness Adaptability Adoration Adroitness Advancement Adventure Affection Affluence Aggressiveness Agility Alertness Altruism Amazement Ambition Amusement Anticipation Appreciation Approachability Approval Art Articulacy Artistry Assertiveness Assurance Attentiveness Attractiveness Audacity Availability Awareness Awe Balance Beauty Being the best Belonging Benevolence Bliss Boldness Bravery Brilliance Buoyancy Calmness Camaraderie Candor Capability Care Carefulness Celebrity Certainty Challenge Change Charity Charm Chastity Cheerfulness Clarity Cleanliness Clear-mindedness Cleverness Closeness Comfort Commitment Community Compassion Competence Competition Completion Composure Concentration Confidence Conformity Congruency Connection Consciousness Conservation Consistency Contentment Continuity Contribution Control Conviction Conviviality Coolness Cooperation Cordiality Correctness Country Courage Courtesy Craftiness Creativity Credibility Cunning Curiosity Daring Decisiveness Decorum Deference Delight Dependability Depth Desire Determination Devotion Devoutness Dexterity Dignity Diligence Direction Directness Discipline Discovery Discretion Diversity Dominance Dreaming Drive Duty Dynamism Eagerness Ease Economy Ecstasy Education Effectiveness Efficiency Elation Elegance Empathy Encouragement Endurance Energy Enjoyment Entertainment Enthusiasm Environmentalism Ethics Euphoria Excellence Excitement Exhilaration Expectancy Expediency Experience Expertise Exploration Expressiveness Extravagance Extroversion Exuberance Fairness Faith Fame Family Fascination Fashion Fearlessness Ferocity Fidelity Fierceness Financial independence Firmness Fitness Flexibility Flow Fluency Focus Fortitude Frankness Freedom Friendliness Friendship Frugality Fun Gallantry Generosity Gentility Giving Grace Gratitude Gregariousness Growth Guidance Happiness Harmony Health Heart Helpfulness Heroism Holiness Honesty Honor Hopefulness Hospitality Humility Humor Hygiene Imagination Impact Impartiality Independence Individuality Industry Influence Ingenuity Inquisitiveness Insightfulness Inspiration Integrity Intellect Intelligence Intensity Intimacy Intrepidness Introspection Introversion Intuition Intuitiveness Inventiveness Investing Involvement Joy Judiciousness Justice Keenness Kindness Knowledge Leadership Learning Liberation Liberty Lightness Liveliness Logic Longevity Love Loyalty Majesty Making a difference Marriage Mastery Maturity Meaning Meekness Mellowness Meticulousness Mindfulness Modesty Motivation Mysteriousness Nature Neatness Nerve Non-comformity Obedience Open-mindedness Openness Optimism Order Organization Originality Outdoors Outlandishness Outrageousness Partnership Patience Passion Peace Perceptiveness Perfection Perkiness Perseverance Persistence Persuasiveness Philanthropy Piety Playfulness Pleasantness Pleasure Poise Polish Popularity Potency Power Practicality Pragmatism Precision Preparedness Presence Pride Privacy Proactivity Professionalism Prosperity Prudence Punctuality Purity Rationality Realism Reason Reasonableness Recognition Recreation Reflection Relaxation Reliability Relief Religiousness Reputation Resilience Resolution Resolve Resourcefulness Respect Responsibility Rest Restraint Reverence Richness Rigor Sacredness Sacrifice Sagacity Saintliness Sanguinity Satisfaction Science Security Self-control Selflessness Self-reliance Self-respect Sensitivity Sensuality Serenity Service Sexiness Sexuality Sharing Shrewdness Significance Silence Silliness Simplicity Sincerity Skillfulness Solidarity Solitude Sophistication Soundness Speed Spirit Spirituality Spontaneity Spunk Stability Status Stealth Stillness Strength Structure Success Support Supremacy Surprise Sympathy Synergy Teaching Teamwork Temperance Thankfulness Thoroughness Thoughtfulness Tidiness Timeliness Traditionalism Tranquility Transcendence Trust Trustworthiness Truth Understanding Unflappability Uniqueness Unity Usefulness Utility Valor Variety Victory Vigor Virtue Vision Vitality Vivacity Volunteering Warmheartedness Warmth Watchfulness Wealth Willfulness Willingness Winning Wisdom Wittiness Wonder Worthiness Youthfulness Zeal

If you think 🤔 😳 😳 OMG!! 😳 it's a looooong list I will neeeever get to the booooottom of it! Then please think again! One hour of a nice sorting exercise against having clarity for the next 10 years. Barf!!! No-brainer, come-on!! So this is how we are going to do. It's like a cooking recipe, except that there is no cookies at the end 😮.

• Open an Excel spreadsheet, and read this list one word by one. If you think the word has some meaning for you (either it resembles you, or you would like you to be more like it) add it in a new row of column A. When I first did this, I ended up with 80 words. So feel free in your choices: add every word you kind of think describes either who you are or who you want to be.


• Now that we have our first list, we are going to move it into the shrinker. For the second pass, tick in col B next to the word, each one you think should stay. This is just a first filtering after the mad copy-paste. At this stage, I lost only 10-15% of them. Next, for each ticked word, copy in Col C but now, sort them by relative similarity. For example, if you ticked Accomplishment and Achievement, they are very similar, so they go together. You will end up with a few groups in Col C, each group separated from each other by a few empty cells. I had 9 groups. One group had just one word. Another group had sixteen words.


• Let's start the third filtering. For each group, keep in Col D only 25-30% of the words. For a group of 1, keep it, for a group of 10, keep only 3. Keep the ones you think represent most what you are, or what you want. Keep those not too similar to each other. At the end of this stage, I had still 22 words for myself.


• We are getting there. A last filtering pass... Now keep in Col E only zero, one, or maximum two words per group. Try to get down to a total of around ten words.


• And now we are finally going to discover our values... In the same spreadsheet, label Col F "I Need" ; Col G is "I offer" ; Col H is "I aspire" and Col I is "I take for granted". Move each of the words into their place in col F, G or H, by order of most important to you. If a word really represents what you need, it goes in column F ("I need"). Etc... For each of these, keep only the top three. If a column has less than 3, go back in time in the previous columns and see if you dismissed a word that would fit in there.


• Finally, look again at the entire list of words, and now search for anything you take for granted. Taking for granted means that you will have a very hard time living without those, but they are so obvious that you did not feel they must be on your list. Therefore, the best in this category are those words you either missed completely in the first pass, or that you expelled just after the first pass.

I hope I helped you see clear. I would love to hear from you. What did you take for granted? Did that exercise help you get to know you better? Email me your thoughts, reply to this email. I am really interested to understand if this helped you as much as it helped me in the first place.

To your journey!