Decision OS / Values
Values are useful when they change the tradeoff you are willing to accept.
Turn vague identity language into decision criteria that can actually compare options.
Case notes
Values makes the decision process visible before the outcome arrives.
Values are easy to state and hard to use. Most people can name values in calm moments, then abandon them when a decision threatens money, status, belonging, certainty, or convenience.
Decision OS treats values as criteria. A value matters when it changes what you choose, what cost you accept, what boundary you hold, or what option you refuse.
01
Use values as criteria, not decoration.
A value should help rank options.
02
Compare stated and revealed values.
Your calendar, spending, relationships, and defaults show what has been winning.
03
Identify borrowed values.
Some criteria are inherited from family, peers, culture, or fear.
Common problems and experiments
Make the next process move small enough to test this week.
My values conflict.
Experiment
Name the top two values in conflict and the cost of honoring each.
What to watch
Conflict becomes clearer when costs are visible.
I do not know what I value.
Experiment
Look at the last five hard choices and infer what won.
What to watch
Revealed values may be more honest than aspirational lists.
I am choosing for approval.
Experiment
Ask what you would choose if nobody applauded or criticized it for one year.
What to watch
Social pressure becomes visible.
Prompt to try
Keep one decision sentence visible.
Which value am I willing to pay for in this decision?
7-day protocol
The value criteria week
- 01 Write the decision question.
- 02 List five possible values involved.
- 03 Choose the top two values that should guide this decision.
- 04 Write what each value costs.
- 05 Score each option against the values.
- 06 Name any borrowed value in the room.
- 07 Rewrite the decision rule in one sentence.
Decision checklist
Mark the process, not the outcome.
Source notes
Losses and values
Prospect theory helps explain why losses can feel heavier than equivalent gains.
Open source →Commitment planning
Implementation intentions can help values survive predictable pressure points.
Open source →Education-only scope
Values guidance cannot decide legal, medical, financial, or emergency choices for the user.