An update on my values

In my first post on this topic, I said how my highest values are benevolence (for the world), reflection (for myself), and sincerity.[1] However, that has changed.

1. Love

My highest value is actually love. “Benevolence” was just a watered-down term for it. This is the value I will organize my life around.

As a result, I can now proudly say my Hogwarts house is Hufflepuff!! I think the Sorting Hat would say “You value knowledge; you could be in Ravenclaw. You’re pragmatic; you could be in Slytherin.” (Not Gryffindor; I’m too fond of self-preservation, aka cowardly.)

But as JK Rowling says, Hufflepuff House’s highest value is love (+ being chill), and that is where I belong.

2. Freedom + discipline

My second-highest value is freedom, but since there is no such thing as freedom without discipline, I treat these two as halves of a whole.

I first heard this idea from Tim Ferriss (who I think got it from one of his podcast guests, Jocko Willink, a former Navy SEAL and author of Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual).

Shoutout to my dear friend Karen, who gave me one of the highest compliments when she said “You don’t care about things that most people care about, because you do things in your own way, for your own reasons. But when you pursue something, you do it in a very disciplined way.”

To paraphrase Steven Pressfield in The War of Art, “You either discipline yourself, or become a slave to something you didn’t choose.”

I also really like Steve Pavlina’s advice on the topic.[2] He says “The pinnacle of self-discipline is when you reach the point that when you make a conscious decision, it’s virtually guaranteed you’ll follow through on it.” I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it!

3. Sincerity

I stand by what I said last time, so nothing to add here. 😛

Notes

[1] First post: My values.

[2] See his six-part series on how to develop self-discipline at stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/06/self-discipline/.