The 10-year core values exercise; or, how I'm filling in the pit

Startups have product roadmaps. Founders need them too.

Hi, I’m Claire! I write about my experience as co-founder of M-Shule, a personalized learning platform using AI and SMS to democratize learning and training across East Africa. I’m also an investor, startup advisor, and ecosystem-builder.

---

A few years ago, I realized I’d created the life that I’d always wanted - the one I had dreamed of living since I was young. I was running a social enterprise that was making a difference, living in an exciting city, made lots of incredible friends. We were almost out of COVID19, I had my own apartment across the street from my best friend, and my company was growing through some great name-brand partnerships.

But I was also depressed.

Over time, I’d developed a small checklist for when I was feeling anxious or stressed: have I been sleeping well? Eating enough? Exercising? Talking to my friends and family? Seeing my therapist?

The answer to all of those questions was yes. And it still wasn’t working. In fact, I felt angry with myself - I had done what I wanted to do, and I was still battling depression and anxiety. I still felt that pit in my stomach every day.

So one weekend, I blocked off an entire afternoon to have a serious meeting with myself. I needed to look at what I wanted for the whole me, not just me the entrepreneur.

First: I had to realize and define my core life values.

I needed to figure out why I was doing what I was doing, and what I actually cared about.

Core values are the principles that guide our choices, behaviors, and interactions with the world, and often shape the foundations of our identities. When faced with difficult decisions, our core values act as decision-making tools.

Some articles said that you can focus on up to 10 core values; some mandated only two. I decided I would find a nice median of 5.

• I found a list of common core values. (This list by Brene Brown is very similar to what I used.)

• I wrote down every word on the list that resonated with me.

• After that, I cut the list down to 10. I focused on the values that answered these core questions:

  • Does this define me?

  • Is this who I am at my best?

  • Is this a filter that I use to make hard decisions?

  • Is this a quality I admire most in other people?

• Finally, I broke that list again down to the final 5.

Looking back on past choices – both good and bad - I saw that at least of those final 5 values drove each major life decision I’d made. And they were also the 5 attitudes I wanted to drive my life experiences moving forward.

Second: Designing a life roadmap around my values.

I looked at my core values - including growth, joy, adventure - and realized that I had completely neglected more than half of them. I had focused so much on growth and adventure, in moving abroad and launching my company, that I ignored other things that were also so important to me – like family time, or actually enjoying my life.

Some resources I read said: Living in alignment with our core values can bring a deep sense of contentment, fulfillment, and purpose to our lives.

I decided that my most fulfilled life was therefore one in which I could live each of those values on a daily and weekly basis.

That led me to imagine Claire +10 years into the future: what would it look like professionally, personally, financially, physically, and emotionally to experience each value every week? What did I want in my daily life that would help me feel fulfilled, what did I want to be working towards, and what did I want to have achieved?

After I wrote all of that out, I then compared it to my present day (because everyone loves a gaps analysis).

Finally, from there, I found there were some major things that I had to work on, long-term practices that I needed to put in place, and some pretty immediate next steps I could take if I was ever going to get there.

That was my 10-year plan.

An example of what came from this: I moved to London from Nairobi. I still wanted some adventure but I wanted to be closer to family. Now I can see them twice as many times a year.

---

I’m now about halfway through that 10-year vision board exercise. Every so often, I’ll have a review meeting. I’ll get out that same notebook and write down everything I’ve done for the past year.

Every time, I’ve found that no matter how low or slow things feel, I’ve actually gone beyond where I thought I would. Things are always right on track.

I can’t say this will work for everyone. In fact, most people I tell about this say, “A 10 year plan? That’s way too long, that feels intimidating!”

It is a long time. But up until that point, I had lived my entire life feeling like I wasn’t moving fast enough, hadn’t achieved enough, and that I was a failure if I didn’t fix everything now. I needed to give myself the time, because big changes take time.

And right now, actually, I’m pretty content.