Into Our Values: Expressed and Operative
Journal entry from Campus Ecology
I am a passionate person. These passions, mostly, come from my values. Even though I am passionate about certain issues or subjects, that does not mean I take action. How do we move from passion to action; furthermore, how do our expressed values become our operative values?
If there were a quick answer, Americans would already be proactive and would not be pondering this question.
First off, expressed values usually contain the subset that we call our operative values, although many times our expressed and operative values are in conflict. This is because our operative values are our traditional values and family values, usually.
Expressed values are more dynamic; they can change after hearing a great lecture or reading a book. They can even change depending on the setting. If you are with a particular group of people or want to impress someone, your expressed values are expressed in the best light for that situation.
So here’s the big question: how do we create consistent expressed values that become our operative values?
Experts say you need to repeat a task 21 times before it becomes a habit. Consider this: for one month, concentrate on one value that you express. At the beginning of the month, research more about that value to “see the space of that value”—as a math major would say. In other words, a value-space is all of the possible different ways of interpreting and reasoning this value. So the first step is to explore this space. Then every day, make a change in our life to reflect the interpretation of this value you like. Do this for the rest of the month.
Then repeat for every month out of the year, coming up with a new value for each month.
And repeat this for years to come, occasionally revisiting the values you have already thought about.
This seems like the best way to turn expressed values into action. Remember that you are not “done” with a value after one month. You need to keep up with this for the rest of your life.