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Stage 4 of 8 — Values

Values.
The Foundation of Your New Story.

Here’s where the energy shifts. Before we design the new story, we need to know what genuinely matters — not what should matter, but what actually does.

Stage 4 of 8 — Values

The Foundation
of Your New Story.

Here’s where the energy shifts. Everything up to now has been inward — understanding, mapping, clarifying. Stage 4 is the pivot. Before we design the new story, we need to know what actually matters to you.

Not what should matter. Not what you’ve been told to value. Not the values your family or your industry or your culture assigned to you. What actually, genuinely, at-your-core matters.

In ACT, values are not goals — they’re not destinations you arrive at. They’re directions of travel. Ongoing, living commitments about how you want to show up. And they’re the anchor that makes your new story hold. Without this stage, everything designed in Stage 6 is built on sand. With it, the new story has roots.

"When you know what genuinely matters to you — not intellectually, but in your body — everything else becomes easier to choose. Values are the compass. They don't tell you exactly what to do. They always tell you which direction to move in."

THE SCIENCE

ACT research consistently shows that values-based action is one of the strongest predictors of psychological wellbeing and resilience. In Relational Frame Theory terms, a new I Am connected to a core value is neurologically more compelling than one that is merely aspirational — it carries the full motivational weight of what genuinely matters to you. This is why Stage 4 comes before design, not after it.

What you work through in Stage 4

Life Domains assessment
Rating your current satisfaction across ten key life domains — health, relationships, work, finances, personal growth, spirituality, creativity, community, fun and environment. The gaps between where you are and where you want to be point directly to your values.
Extracting your core values
The why-drilling process: for each domain with a significant gap, you keep asking ‘why does this matter to me?’ until you hit something bedrock — something that just IS, with no deeper answer beneath it. That’s a value. Your top five to eight core values are what the new story is built around.
Values in Action
It’s not enough to know your values intellectually. For each core value, you identify three specific, concrete behaviours that bring it to life. What does courage look like in your Monday? What does connection look like in your daily choices? Values become real when they become behaviour.
Anchoring Values to your new I Ams
Your core values become the root system for your new I Am Statements. ‘I am someone who speaks honestly — because integrity is who I am at my core.’ When the I Am is anchored to a value, it doesn’t need willpower to sustain it.

The exercises in Stage 4

Ex A
Life Domains — current vs desired
Rating ten life domains. The gaps are not problems — they’re compass readings.
Ex B
Extracting Your Core Values
Why-drilling to bedrock — finding what genuinely matters, not what should
Ex C
Values in Action
Translating each value into specific, observable daily behaviour
Ex D
Anchoring Values to Your New I Ams
Building the root system — connecting identity to values so the new story holds
Start Stage 4 in the Self Blueprint →Next: Stage 5 — Release →

Work through Stage 4 with Andy.

The Self Blueprint takes you through all eight stages — with Andy guiding every step.

Enrol now → Next: Stage 5 — Release →