Values: the lens you plan through

Why this matters

A goal without a value is busy work. The week fills, the inbox shrinks, the man is exhausted, and nothing he cared about moved. Albert Pike put it plainly: "Persuasion goes farther than force, and a curse attends the forced and reluctant performance of a duty." Force a value on yourself and the duty is cursed before you start. Choose it first and the work follows you home willingly.

Franklin started his project of self-improvement at twenty by listing 13 virtues on a card, working one a week, and tracking the day with a dot. Aristotle named four Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance) twenty-three centuries before the Craft's published charges adopted them. Covey calls the practice principle-centered living; Drucker calls it knowing what you stand for. The work in this chapter is to name your three or four highest values before you go anywhere near a goal list. Skip this step and the goals you set will optimize for the wrong outcome.

What this chapter is

Values are the personal commitments that shape a decision before the decision is made. The Craft names this in its charges; the secular literature names it in Franklin's catalog of virtues, Covey's principle-centered living, and Drucker's note on knowing what you stand for. Values come first because a goal pursued without one bends to whatever is loudest at the moment. Naming values in writing, before the week starts, is the simplest tool an honest man can give himself.

How to practise it

A lesson walks the same seven steps every time. Read the intro, study the material, then drill it through Quick Fire, Matchup, Sequence, Flashcards, and the Mix capstone. Each step opens to the next; no choices to make in the middle of the work.