Your Outcome: Is it possible to have great values, to have all your rules aligned to support them, to be asking yourself the right questions, and not to be living your values in the moment? If you're being honest with yourself, you know the answer is yes. All of us at one time or another have let events control us, instead of controlling our states or our decisions as to what those events mean. We need a clear-cut way to ensure that we consistently live the values to which we've committed ourselves, and a way of measuring whether or not we're actually achieving that value on a daily basis. The young man had achieved enormous success by the time he was twenty-seven years old. He was very bright, well-read, and he felt like he had the world by the tail. But one day he realized something: he wasn't very happy.' Many people disliked him because they perceived him as haughty and overbearing. He felt that he was no longer in command of his life's direction, much less his ultimate destiny. He decided that he would take control of his life by setting a higher standard for himself, developing a strategy to achieve that higher standard, and creating a system so that he could measure his results daily. He began by selecting twelve "virtues"—twelve states that he wanted to experience every day— that he felt would take his life in the direction he wanted. Then he took out his journal and wrote down all twelve states, and next to this list he created a grid of all the days of the month. "Every time I violate any one of these virtues," he said, "I will put a small black dot next to that value for that day. My goal is to have no black dots on my chart. Then I will know I am truly living these virtues." He was so proud of his idea that he showed his journal and explained his system to a friend. His friend said, "Great! Only I think you should add humility222 to your list of virtues." And Benjamin Franklin laughed and added the 13th virtue to his list. I remember reading this story from Ben Franklin's autobiography in a beat-up hotel room in Milwaukee. I was on an intense schedule, facing the prospect of doing several radio and television talk shows, a book signing, and a free guest event. The night before meeting all these obligations I decided, "Okay, you're here, so make the best of it. At least you can feed your mind." I had very recently come up with the idea of values and their hierarchies, and I had created what I thought was a great list of values for myself, one that I felt good about living. But as I reflected upon Ben's list of virtues, I told myself, "Yes, you have love as a value, but are you being loving right now? Contribution is one of your top values, but are you contributing in this moment?" And the answer was no. I had great values, but I wasn't measuring whether or not I was truly living them on a momentto-moment basis. I knew I was a loving person, but as I looked back, I saw a lot of moments when I wasn't being loving! I sat down and asked myself, "What states would I be in if I were my highest and best? What states will I commit to being every single day, no matter what? Regardless of the environment, regardless of whatever challenges break loose around me, I will be these states at least once every day!" The states to which I committed myself included being friendly, happy, loving, outgoing, playful, powerful, generous, outrageous, passionate, and fun. Some of these states were the same as my values, and some of them weren't. But I knew that if I truly lived each of these states every day, I would be living my values continually. As you can imagine, it was a pretty exciting process! The next day, as I appeared on the radio and TV talk shows, I deliberately put myself into these states. I was happy, loving, powerful, funny, and I felt that what I said and did made a contribution, not only to my hosts, but to the people who were listening and watching. Then I went down to the local shopping mall for a book signing. When I got there, the manager approached me with a distressed expression and said, "There's a slight problem, Mr. Robbins . . . the announcement that you're going to be here signing books is coming out in tomorrow's paper!" Now, if this had happened before I'd read about Ben Franklin's list, I might have reacted in a rather unique way. But with my new list in mind I thought, "I'm committed to living in these states no matter what. What a great test to see if I'm truly living my personal code every day!" , So I walked over to the book-signing table and looked around. Nobody was there; only a few people were strolling through the mall. How could I create excitement where none seemed to exist? The first thing that popped into my mind was outrageousness. After all, one of the states on my list was to be outrageous . So I picked up a copy of my book. Unlimited Power, and started reading it and making all kinds of interesting noises: "Ooooh! Aaaah! Wow, is that true?" Soon a woman walked by, was attracted by my enthusiasm for what clearly had to be a brilliant book, and stopped to see what I was reading. I raved to her about this incredible book, and pointed out all of the best stories and techniques. Someone else stopped to see what all the hubbub was about, then a few other folks joined us, and within around twenty minutes, about twenty-five to thirty people were crowding around me to hear about the great book I had found. Finally, I said, "And you know the best thing of all? I happen to be a good friend of the author!" The first woman's eyes lit up: "Really?" I held up the book jacket with my picture on the back and said, "Look familiar?" She gasped, and laughed, and so did all the other people. I sat down and started signing books. That afternoon turned out to be a terrific success, and all of us had fun. Instead of letting events control my actions and perceptions, I had consciously chosen to live by what I now call my Code of Conduct. I also had the tremendous sense of satisfaction of knowing that by living in these states—by being who I truly am—I was meeting my values in the moment