Start the New Year with a Values Clarification

Values clarification is a tool used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help focus on what really matters. CBT was inspired by Stoic principles, and this technique also fits very well in a Stoic lifestyle. When you know what’s important in your life, you can give your energy and attention to the important things while not worrying about the rest.

So to start the new year off in the right frame of mind, we recommend spending a few minutes identifying what is most important to you. Write down or meditate on the following questions:

1. What is the endgoal of your life? In other words, what are you ultimately working toward?

2. What values, thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs can help you reach this goal?

3. What values, thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs will NOT help you reach this goal?

These are difficult questions to answer, so if you’d like some Stoic advice, here’s a quick summary of what a Stoic might say:

1. The endgoal of life is eudaimonia (wellbeing, flourishing, deep happiness), which we reach by becoming excellent human beings and developing our character.

2. Values, beliefs, and attitudes that help us get closer to this goal include

   • valuing our inner gifts (rationality and sociability), talents (agency and creativity), and resources (wisdom, justice, courage, temperance)

   • appreciating the people around us and the good things in the world

   • working on what we can control

   • understanding the world and accepting what we can’t change

3. Values, beliefs, and attitudes that will NOT help us reach this goal include

   • valuing external things (money, events in the world, other people’s opinions and actions)

   • worrying about things we can’t control

   • focusing on things that are wrong

   • wishing things were different

With these larger goals in place, you can next identify specific actions that will maximize the helpful attitudes/beliefs and minimize the unhelpful ones. Here are just a few examples, which you can personalize to fit your unique goals, personality, and circumstances.

• I will take 5 minutes each day to appreciate the people and things in my life.

• When a difficult situation arises, I will pause and identify what is important here and what is within my control.

• I will focus my energy on my top three values, saying yes to things that contribute to these values and saying no to everything else.

We hope your new year is off to a great start, and we wish you peace, fulfillment and Stoic wellbeing in 2025!