CHAPTER 13 Prioritizing Resources…Are You Putting Your Money Where your Mouth Is?

Let’s jump right in - what are your values? If you’re like many people, you might feel challenged to really get your arms around an answer to that question in any meaningful way.  The goal of the exercise in this post is to help you organize and focus your thoughts on the subject of values.

Step one:  Do your best to list your top 5 values as you currently understand them. Once they’re identified, prioritize them. Number one on your list will be your top priority. A quick note: Approach this exercise as a “forced choice” task. That is, assume you MUST list your values in order – no qualifying your answer, even if that seems a bit unrealistic. If you need a jump start for this exercise, click through to this list to help you get going. A fun challenge here is to list and prioritize not just your top 5, but top 10, values. Good luck! Go ahead and pause here to make your list.

Now, you’re going to make a second list.   Step 2: Spend a few minutes reflecting on the following question: How do you invest your resources? In other words, how do you spend your time, money, energy, etc.? With this in mind, make a new list of your top 5-10 values. This list won’t be what you think they are or what you’d like them to be, but what your current resource allocation indicates they actually are. No one but you will see these lists; do your very best to be as objective as you possibly can. Go ahead and make your list now.

With your list complete, you’re ready for Step 3: Compare the lists. Are you surprised by anything? For some folks, this can be a real eye-opener! Did you find the exercise more, or less, difficult than you expected? Did any of your decisions leave you feeling uncomfortable? Perhaps you thought you’ve been prioritizing one thing, but your current resource allocation doesn’t support that. This exercise is intended to support your awareness of a couple really important things. We’ll explore them in the next entry.