The Question That Changes Everything About Productivity
Productivity advice is everywhere.
Tips, tricks, hacks, systems.
The goal is always the same: get more done, faster.
But here’s the question almost nobody stops to ask: Why?
Why be productive in the first place?
Science Has Already Figured Out What Drives You
In his recent book, Intentional: How to Finish What You Start, Chris Bailey helps us understand what really matters to us.
What is our why?
His book is based on his exhaustive review of scientific studies and conclusions.
As a result of his study, he’s concluded that each of our actions has an underlying motivation. And so there is always a value or multiple values propelling us forward.
Scientific studies reveal that all human behavior is based on 12 fundamental values. This conclusion has been validated across more than 300 samples in over 80 countries.
Some of these will surprise you. Some will feel immediately familiar. They are:
• Conformity
• Security
• Tradition
• Self-direction
• Stimulation
• Power
• Achievement
• Benevolence
• Universalism
• Pleasure
• Humility
• Face.
It’s important to understand the values behind your behavior. Because, as Bailey says,
“The most meaningful course of action—to us in the moment, anyway—is always the one most aligned with our values.”
Two Ways to Find Out What You Actually Value
This raises the question of how we determine our values.
1. Take the Values Test
One way to find out is to take a values test. Bailey recommends the Core Values Finder Test as a validated scientific test.
You can take the test on Bailey’s site.
I took it, and it gave me some real insights into my values.
2. Look at What You Do
Another way to determine your values is to simply look at what you do. Bailey writes,
“Try to order the values based on where you spend your time. How you spend your time and resources is indicative of which values you likely have.”
Your actions reveal your core values.
Looking back at how you spent your time during the last month or more will give you a pretty good indication of which values you engage with most often on a daily basis.
How I Tested This System
David Spark’s Productivity Field Guide is all about asking the big “Why?” question, then using the answer to set your productivity priorities.
It’s built on first identifying your roles based on what you do.
He encourages readers to do an exercise called the “carrying water exercise,” in which you make a list of everything that you do for a week or more, and then identify the roles that you have.
Your roles will give you insight into your values. It’s the same as what Chris Bailey is saying in Intentional: look at what you do to determine your values.
Bailey’s research has provided scientific validation for the Productivity Field Guide approach. You determine values by identifying your roles (what you do).
I’ve been practicing the system taught in the Productivity Field Guide for over four years now. I identified and refined my roles over several years.
After reading Intentional, I took the values test. It was exciting for me to see that my core values of benevolent care, benevolent reliability, and self-direction in thought aligned perfectly with my roles.
As a result of clearly identifying my core roles, I have a deeper understanding of why I do those roles and why they are so important to me.
Knowing my values also helps me to choose activities that closely align with them. This gives me more motivation and increases the likelihood that I’ll achieve the goals I set.
Why the Values Workshop Exercise Doesn’t Actually Work
I have to be honest — the “circle your values” workshop exercise never made sense to me. You’re handed a sheet with 50 words on it, you circle a few that feel right, and somehow that’s supposed to tell you what you care about most.
There’s no science behind it. Chris Bailey confirmed as much on the Focus Podcast:
“When somebody hands me like 50 values and asks me to circle one, there’s no research behind that.”
The lists typically include things like health, balance, joy, gratitude, peace, and mindfulness.
They sound like values. But they aren’t among the 12 that research has consistently identified as driving actual human behavior across cultures and countries.
And here’s what happens in practice. I once watched a workshop participant work through this exercise with real sincerity and conclude that her guiding value was “to do all things with love.”
I understood the impulse. But I sat there thinking: what do you do with that on a Wednesday morning when you’re deciding what to work on? How does that help you figure out whether to take on a new commitment or let one go? It doesn’t. It can’t.
It’s too vague to be useful.
That’s the gap between feeling like you know your values and actually knowing them in a way you can use.
The approach we’ve been talking about — identifying your roles, auditing your time, taking a validated test — closes that gap. It gives you something real to work with.
Your Next Fifteen Minutes
The most meaningful productivity work you can do today has nothing to do with your task manager or your morning routine.
It starts with an honest look at what actually drives you.
Take fifteen minutes and do one of two things: take the values test recommended by Bailey, or pull up your calendar from the last month and see where your time really went.
Either one will tell you something worth knowing — and something you can actually build on.
If you want a complete framework for building your work around what actually matters to you, the Productivity Field Guide is the system that brought it all together for me.
Bailey’s research just confirmed what four years of practice already showed me. Now it’s your turn to find out what it shows you.
AI Note: I wrote this blog post myself, using my own words and thoughts for the initial draft. I used AI only to suggest headlines, section headings, images, and text improvements.
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