This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Designing the Mind" by Designing the Mind and Ryan A Bush. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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What are value-based goals? How do you connect your goals and values?
According to Ryan A. Bush, the author of Designing the Mind, your goals should be informed by your values. Pursuing value-based goals (instead of desire-based goals) will bring you fulfillment and success.
Keep reading to learn how to set value-based goals, according to Bush.
Base Goals On Your Values
Before we explain how to set value-based goals, let’s explore what values actually are. Values start as your intuitions about the perceived “goodness” and “badness” of different actions and consequences. When you have the same intuitions about what’s good and bad over and over, you get a sense of your ideal traits, such as kindness, courage, or honesty. The collection of these ideals becomes your value system, which represents your ideal self and the traits you want to embody. Embodying your values
(Shortform note: In The Success Principles, Jack Canfield expands on the idea of using goals to shape your behavior, arguing that you should act as if you’ve already achieved your goals. This will help you attract and recognize opportunities and people that will bring you closer to completing them. To determine how specifically you should act, ask yourself the following questions: How would you feel when you achieve your goals? How would you think? How would you talk? What would you wear? Additionally, try modeling the behaviors of successful people, like self-confidence and comfort with taking risks.)
| How to Define Your Values When You Struggle to Intuit Them Discovering your values might be hard if you’re not in touch with your intuition. If you’re in this situation but you still want to gain the benefits of clarifying your values (increased success and fulfillment), you’ll first need to take extra action to identify your values consciously. Start by reviewing a list of core values—like wisdom, loyalty, and kindness—and write down the ones that resonate with you. Additionally, think about the people you admire most and the qualities they represent, and write down these qualities too. For example, you might admire a family member for their generosity. Once you have a list of values you feel represent you, group them into categories. For instance, if you wrote down kindness, generosity, and empathy, you might make a group of values centered around helping others. These groups can help you identify major themes in your value system and figure out what matters most to you. |
Values vs. Desires
Bush warns that values shouldn’t be confused with desires. Desires represent the things we want and crave—like a fancy new phone or expensive concert tickets—but they aren’t necessarily the things that will make us happy. Often, when we acquire the object of our desire, it doesn’t make us feel as good as we thought it would, leaving us unsatisfied. Desires also invite loss into our lives—we feel good when we obtain something we want, but we suffer when we inevitably lose it since everything’s impermanent.
(Shortform note: As Bush states, greater desire often invites greater dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, our modern consumer culture depends on us desiring things. Every year, companies spend billions of dollars on advertising that entices us to spend more on items we desire. Then, we desire more money to keep spending, and our dissatisfaction increases. Research shows that people in countries with greater wealth—and thus a more robust consumer culture—are often unhappier than people in poorer countries. To break the cycle of consumerism and desire, focus on appreciating and taking care of what you already have. Additionally, look to the truly important things for fulfillment, like the people you love or activities you enjoy.)
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Here's what you'll find in our full Designing the Mind summary:
- How the mind can be reprogrammed like a computer
- Strategies to help you change negative thought patterns, emotions, and behaviors
- How to eliminate your biases to perceive reality more accurately
