Chief Change Officer
#163 Life GPS: Robert MacPhee on Values-Based Living — Part Two
Thu, 6 Feb 2025
Part Two.Robert MacPhee once parked cars—now he helps people find their parking spot in life. As a former right-hand to Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Jack Canfield and the author of Living a Values-Based Life, he’s all about helping people shift gears toward purpose.In this episode, we tackle life’s tricky intersections: Why do we struggle to define what we value? How does aligning your actions with your values make life smoother? And what’s with Robert’s strong opinions on clarity? Tune in for some deep insights, a few laughs, and maybe even a tune-up for your own life’s GPS.Key Highlights of Our Interviews:Why It’s So Hard to Define Our Own Values“Most people’s initial list of values often reflects what they think others want to hear. We’re so conditioned to impress others or meet external expectations that it’s challenging to pause and ask: What truly matters to me? The real magic begins when we strip away external noise and align with our authentic priorities.”How a Values-Based Life Can Improve Work“Clarity about values doesn’t just make personal life better—it’s transformative for work too. Aligning your actions with priorities like contribution or integrity can help you show up fully, even in challenging moments. That alignment makes work feel purposeful instead of draining.”Do Values Change Over Time? The Short Answer: Yes.“Values aren’t set in stone—they evolve with life stages and circumstances. For instance, what mattered to you in high school may be worlds apart from what tops your list in your sixties or seventies. Life experiences, like becoming a parent or caring for aging loved ones, naturally shift our focus, making values an ongoing conversation, not a one-time declaration.”Keeping Values Visible“The importance of keeping your values front and center can’t be overstated. Whether on your phone, bathroom mirror, or bedside table, revisiting your values regularly keeps them aligned with your current life stage. A daily reminder to reflect, re-anchor, and adjust ensures your values stay relevant.”_________________________Connect with us:Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Robert MacPhee--Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Deep Human Intelligence for Growth Progressives, Visionary Underdogs,TransformationGurus & Bold Hearts.6 Million+ All-Time Downloads.Reaching 80+ Countries Daily.Global Top 3% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.100,000+ subscribers are outgrowing. Act Today. --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.EdTech Leadership Awards 2025 Finalist.18 Million+ All-Time Downloads.80+ Countries Reached Daily.Global Top 1.5% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>170,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Chapter 1: What are the challenges in defining our values?
If you feel stuck in your current workplace, it's not necessarily your fault. Often, it's just a misalignment of values. Don't bend your values to fit in. Instead, find a place and a tribe whose values resonate with yours. That's where true happiness and success lie. Let's dive in. My follow-up question is about what happens after we identify our values.
Chapter 2: How can a values-based life transform work?
Even if we genuinely figure out and believe in them, whatever those values are, like honesty, humanity, the next step is the hardest, practicing them consistently. How do you advise your clients to implement the values in daily life? For businesses, this could be challenging, but equally difficult for individuals. Even with the best intentions, staying mindful and consistent isn't easy.
How do you suggest we monitor and sustain our actions to align with our values? Talk is cheap. I believe talk and talk and walk the walk matters when it comes to implementation of values. If I were your client asking, we've identified my values. What do I do next? How would you guide me?
I'm so glad you brought that up because without that approach, without saying, how do we apply this? How do we put this into action? How do we implement it? It's all really just an interesting conversation. And you brought up a really good point. Sometimes people can get caught up in the words that really sound good and will make a good impression on someone else.
When people are first doing this work, We live in a world where we're trying to impress other people and make other people happy so much of the time. Sometimes it's a really big stretch for people to really be honest with themselves and say what really is. Aside from what anyone else might think, What is really most important to me? And for most people, that takes a period of time.
Their first list might reflect what sounds good to other people. That's just normal. That's just the world we live in. But where the rubber really hits the road, where this really makes a difference in people's lives, is when we start to apply it. And this is one of the beautiful things.
This is one of the reasons why I think our values-based life approach, where we are taking values and dividing them into these two categories, why it's so useful is because it's actually pretty easy to apply. Once we have these two lists, we can literally look at those lists. And in any moment, we can self-assess how we're doing
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Chapter 3: Do values change over time with new experiences?
Chapter 4: What strategies can help implement values in daily life?
How do you suggest we monitor and sustain our actions to align with our values? Talk is cheap. I believe talk and talk and walk the walk matters when it comes to implementation of values. If I were your client asking, we've identified my values. What do I do next? How would you guide me?
I'm so glad you brought that up because without that approach, without saying, how do we apply this? How do we put this into action? How do we implement it? It's all really just an interesting conversation. And you brought up a really good point. Sometimes people can get caught up in the words that really sound good and will make a good impression on someone else.
Chapter 5: How do we keep our values visible and relevant?
When people are first doing this work, We live in a world where we're trying to impress other people and make other people happy so much of the time. Sometimes it's a really big stretch for people to really be honest with themselves and say what really is. Aside from what anyone else might think, What is really most important to me? And for most people, that takes a period of time.
Chapter 6: What is the four A's process for values implementation?
Their first list might reflect what sounds good to other people. That's just normal. That's just the world we live in. But where the rubber really hits the road, where this really makes a difference in people's lives, is when we start to apply it. And this is one of the beautiful things.
This is one of the reasons why I think our values-based life approach, where we are taking values and dividing them into these two categories, why it's so useful is because it's actually pretty easy to apply. Once we have these two lists, we can literally look at those lists. And in any moment, we can self-assess how we're doing
in the areas or the qualities and characteristics that are on that list. For instance, again, myself, I can look at my list of priorities and say, okay, I have declared that my relationship with my children is number one on my list. How am I doing? How are my relationships with my children? How much, how's the communication? How much time am I spending with them?
Do they know, do they really know that I love them unconditionally? Do they know that I'm here to support them in any way I possibly can? And I'm really blessed because I can ask those questions and We'd have to double check with them to be a hundred percent sure, but I'm very confident that the quality of those relationships that I have with my children is really good.
I put the time and attention into that because I know it's always on the top of that list when I look at it and I'll go right down the list and I'll say, Contribution is second on my list. How is that going? And honestly, that's an area I'm putting more time and attention in because this values work, I feel like can be such a huge contribution to individuals, to organizations, to the world.
Just imagine if more people What if everyone was really clear about what their highest values were? Imagine how that would change just like the political discourse for starters. Like what a difference that would make if people were coming from a place and acting from a place of real clarity about their highest values. So again, we can look at our priorities and say, okay,
How do I want to shift my time and attention to create more of the results and more of the experiences that I want? And the same thing with the ways of being. I can look at my list and I can say, I've said that it's my intention to be really humble. How am I doing with that? Am I being Mr. Know-it-all? I have all the answers and telling everyone else what they should do?
That doesn't sound very humble. Or am I really showing up in my relationships with other people and listening and asking questions and being curious and genuinely wanting to support? then I'm doing pretty good. I can literally look at all the items on my list of highest values and I can self-assess. And we actually, we use a process in our work called the four A's as an implementation process.
And it starts with this assessment. And the second A is area. It's assessing or choosing an area to focus on. Like I told you with my priorities, I might choose contribution as an area to focus on. I say, I want to make a bigger contribution. What actions can I take? There's that third A. That's the next thing we're going to look at and say, what is an action I can take?
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