AXIOLOGY and The Judgment Index
Has anyone ever told you that you remind them of someone?
As much as you may look or act like another person, even with nearly 8 billion people on this planet, no one else is exactly like you. But how is that possible? How can each of us be as unique as our fingerprint? And why is this important?
When you know who you are and why you do things the way you do, you can begin to make better decisions for yourself that will ultimately improve your happiness. But understanding who you are goes well beyond understanding your IQ or personality! There are a variety of assessments out there that will try to define you. The fact is, you aren’t just a set of letters, a color, or a number. You are unique! We have to dig deeper to find out what makes you tick and why you do things differently than those around you. So, we need to measure something different.
Judgment Index uses the Nobel Prize-nominated math, science, and logic of Axiology (the study of one’s values), developed by Robert S. Hartman, to measure a person’s VALUES because…
Your values are those things that motivate, guide, drive, and direct your everyday decisions.
Bill Wilson, CEO Judgment Index
Every single decision you make, from what to wear to where to live, you make using your unique values. Given that the average adult makes more than 35,000 decision every day, understanding your values becomes a super important, game-changing factor for success and happiness. If you would really like to understand yourself better or if you want to make better decisions and choices, you can start by taking a hard look at your values.
The Value Cycle is a visual we use to help you understand the role, importance, and impact of your values and how you can actually improve your life through positively affecting your Value Cycle.
Let’s take a closer look at the parts within the Value Cycle.
1. YOUR VALUES GUIDE YOUR CHOICES
Each of us has GIVEN values and CHOSEN values that guide our everyday choices.
Your GIVEN VALUES come out of experiences that you have had with circumstances not within your control. These are things like where you were born, the knowledge and wisdom imparted on you by your parents (or lack thereof), and the culture or religion in which you were raised. Take a moment and think back on your childhood to a situation that left such a lasting impression on you that the impact of that experience will affect you for the rest of your life. Whether good or bad, in those defining moments, your values were being developed and refined.
On the other side of the same coin, you have CHOSEN VALUES. Your chosen values are gained thru lessons and experiences that came about as a result of decisions you made for yourself like where you have chosen to live or where you work. For example, if you have made the choice to be a parent, you know that the values you had before having a child are different now that you are responsible for another humannlife. As we are constantly experiencing, learning, and growing, so are our Values.
It is with our given and chosen values that we filter our CHOICES. When you have the option between making a house payment or flying out to Las Vegas for the weekend, what are you going to choose? If you have a family that depends on you, and you want to make a healthy decision, you might opt to make that house payment. If you are single, feeling like living a little, and can afford to live more frivolously, maybe you hop on the next flight to the strip.
Let’s take a look at the next step in the cycle.
2. YOUR CHOICES GENERATE YOUR ACTIONS
The second part of The Value Cycle explains that each CHOICE you make, large or small, will generate an ACTION. Even your choice to sit on the couch and do absolutely nothing is an action… and sometimes, that’s an excellent choice!
To understand this a little better, we’ll use the following scenario to see The Value Cycle at work so far. Let’s say that based on your VALUES, you believe that marriage looks right for you. So, you make the CHOICE to propose to your partner. This choice generates an ACTION: a proposal. Will your partner say yes? Let’s find out.
3. YOUR ACTIONS CREATE YOUR EXPERIENCES
Rest assured, your ACTION of a proposal created an amazing EXPERIENCE for both you and your, now fiancé! You guys celebrated with all of your friends and family. A great time was had by all.
While this experience was positive for you and your group, not all experiences are equal. Sometimes we come into a set of circumstances that rocks our world, and we aren’t quite sure what to do next. Whether you are on the top of the world or down in the dumps, it is important to understand that these experiences alone do NOT define you. So, what does?
Here is where the magic of the Value Cycle comes into play.
4. (How you FEEL about) YOUR EXPERIENCES SHAPE YOUR VALUES.
In this final leg of the cycle, we reveal that your life’s EXPERIENCES are what ultimately shape your VALUES, determining who you are, how you make decisions, and what makes you unique.
This is super important, so lean in and make sure you are paying attention...
An experience alone can’t shape your values. It doesn’t have that power. How you FEEL about your experience is what actually shapes your values. When you GET THIS, then you understand that shaping who you are becomes something you CAN CONTROL.
Viktor Frankl, a well-known author, philosopher, Holocaust survivor, and a contemporary of Robert Hartman’s, lived this concept. As someone who faced the hardest of times, he said:
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
Viktor E. Frankl, Holocaust Survivor
While our circumstances are often out of our control, we can control one thing: how we feel about our situation. This means we get to choose our attitude, our perspective, and what we do with the information. You get to decide if you will use your good and bad experiences to spiral your Value Cycle upwards toward success and happiness or downwards.
Choosing a positive take on being dealt a really bad hand in life takes practice. Once you gain a little traction, on the other side is a much happier, more balanced, more fulfilled, stronger problem solving, better decision making, kinder, and more empathetic YOU.
With healthier values, you make better choices which generate better actions that create better experiences, positively shaping your values. And the cycle continues.
So where do you start?
Unlike your IQ and your personality, your values change and can be developed and improved over time. If you think back to the values you had when you were younger compared to now, hopefully you can see that your values are stronger and more well-rounded. To actively work toward a more fulfilled life, there are two places to impact your Value Cycle:
- CHOICES: Start small. Pick one thing that you can do differently today that you know will positively impact your life and your Value Cycle. Maybe you don’t eat that donut. Maybe you call someone that would benefit with hearing your voice. Make a healthy choice. Then begin to string some of those together.
Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
Vincent Van Gogh
- ATTITUDE: Can you muster a positive attitude even when life throws you a curveball? This can be especially tough when you feel like you are doing everything right and making all the right choices…it doesn’t seem fair. With every experience in your life, you have the opportunity to let it build you up or tear you down.
You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Marcus Aurelius
The key takeaway…
There are things that are going to happen in your life that are out of your control. Fortunately, you have “say-so” in your happiness. With your next decision, picture The Value Cycle. Next, consider making a healthy decision – even if it’s hard. Finally, regardless of your choice and the outcome, seek out a positive attitude about and perspective of your experience. Even when it doesn’t seem possible, you have the opportunity, once choice at a time, to create happiness by making a positive impact on your values and The Value Cycle. This is life-changing kind of awesome.
Check out Judgment Index on social to learn more about values!
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-Starr Wilson, AXIOLOGY
Axiology 