Pivoting on Personal Values to Grow
How I Replaced Creativity with Legacy in my Top 5 Personal Values (Workshop Exercise)
The great thing about personal value activities is that there’s no wrong or right answer. There are only personal answers.
QUICK! High, Medium, Low
Recently I did the personal value card sorting activity at a workshop. From a stack of over 50 cards, I sorted them out into high, medium, and low priority.
I allowed myself to treat the medium pile as my baseline, so I had no guilt of putting things like family into the middle pile. Of course my family means the world to me, but I see my top values as the way in which I achieve things like my family well-being.
Side Note: I’ve been following Cindy Gallop recently, so her voice in the back of my head got me to put “make money” card into the middle pile instead of the low pile. Or as Cindy Gallop would say, “make a shit ton of money.” I’ve never been in it for the money, but damn it would be nice to have FU money some day.
Tough Choices: The Top Five
I managed to select nine cards for my top pile in my first pass. And then, I narrowed that down to what I thought was my top five: simplicity, creativity, time freedom, cooperation, and autonomy.
While the cards gave their own description, and I wrote each value down on my own words:
- Simplicity / Minimalism: Simple is hard, and it’s what I tackle as a UX designer everyday. Minimalism is a newer personal value, to live with quality and less junk so I can pursue bigger life goals while getting joy from the journey.
- Creativity: It’s my job.
- Time Freedom: Is the ability to pursue what is important to me.
- Cooperation: I work better when working collaboratively with others. They hold me to a higher standard and in return I help them succeed.
- Autonomy: I have always been stubborn, and that means I’ll only put my passion into what I believe in.
Something’s Wrong With Creativity
I was unsatisfied with my shortest answer. “Creativity: It’s my job.” The way I defined it for myself was table stakes. It’s not a differentiator. It’s not an iconic landmark that sticks out from the cityscape that defines who I am as a person in a creative field.
Letting Legacy Simmer
In the meanwhile, I grabbed one card that imprinted itself in my mind from the middle pile: Legacy. I placed it on the top of the middle pile.
I felt guilty feeling drawn to Legacy. I don’t like to think so highly of myself that I would “leave a legacy” for future generations. I do care about how we spend our limited time on this planet. That we don’t waste energy on building things that don’t provide value to humans.
The card defined legacy as “having lasting impact in the lives of others.” Hmm… I let that simmer in the back in my mind.
Letting Go of Creativity
One thing I admitted to myself was that I get a dopamine rush when someone compliments me on my creativity. It feels good. But just because it feels good doesn’t mean it is a top value. Feeling good is another way of saying feeling comfortable. What if I push myself out of my comfort zone?
Legacy Trumps Creativity
I swapped the cards. Making a lasting impact in the lives of others is the ultimate creativity. It’s about building the right thing and building it right.
- Simplicity / Minimalism: Simple is hard, and it’s what I tackle as a UX designer everyday. Minimalism is a newer personal value, to live with quality and less junk so I can pursue bigger life goals while getting joy from the journey.
- Legacy: Build the right thing and build it right.
- Time Freedom: Is the ability to pursue what is important to me.
- Cooperation: I work better when working collaboratively with others. They hold me to a higher standard and in return I help them succeed.
- Autonomy: I have always been stubborn, and that means I’ll only put my passion into what I believe in.
Creativity is a Solid Middle Pile Value
Creativity is now a solid middle pile personal value for me. Right there alongside family, making money, and 30+ other cards.
Try It Yourself or With Your Team
Doing the sorting, prioritizing, and self-reflection exercise with your team can help give insight about what motivates each other.
You can buy the expensive Kouzes and Posner Value Cards, or grab the free printable copy from University of New Mexico. It looks like the free printable cards is a larger set with some different labels from what I had access to during my workshop (for example “Legacy” is “Contribution”). Good to know about the free cards: “This instrument is in the public domain and may be copied, adapted and used without permission”
Saara Kamppari-Miller
Design Strategy, User Experience Design, Interaction Design
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