Day 0 — Prep

Time: ~15–20 min · Do this the week before Day 1.

The two most powerful additions to a values process — real data and outside input — both need lead time. This short prep sets them in motion so they’re ready when you reach the days that use them. Don’t analyze anything yet today; just gather.

A. ◇ Pull objective data

Memory is a lossy, self-serving compressor. It remembers the version of your month that flatters you. These records don’t. You’ll mine them on Day 3 (passions) and Day 5 (measurement), so collect them now:

• Export or screenshot last month’s calendar — where your time actually went.
• Pull last 2–3 months of spending, roughly categorized — where your money actually went.
• Open your browser / watch / listen history and note what you return to unprompted.
• Grab your screen-time breakdown by app or category, if your phone tracks it.

Just collect and set aside. You’re assembling the uncompressed source record; the analysis comes later.

B. ◇ Outside input — optional

You are the most biased possible witness to yourself. Other people often see your patterns — especially your strengths — more clearly than you do, because the things you’re best at feel so effortless that you’ve stopped noticing them. This step is the only correction for that blind spot. Two versions; the light one needs no one but you.

B1 — From memory, no outreach (2 min)

Don’t ask anyone. Just recall and write down:

• What do people consistently come to you for? (advice, a kind of help, a perspective) → __
• What compliment do you brush off because it feels too easy to count? That’s usually a real strength hiding behind how effortless it feels. → __

This captures most of the value with zero social cost. If you do nothing else here, do this.

B2 — Ask 3–5 people (needs lead time — start now)

If you want the fuller version, text or email a few people who know you across different parts of your life (not all coworkers, not all family). Ask exactly two questions:

1. “When have you seen me most alive, or most myself?”
2. “What do you think I’m genuinely good at — or see clearly — that I might not notice in myself?”

Save their replies somewhere private. You’ll fold them into Day 1 and cross-check them on Day 4. The point isn’t flattery — it’s triangulation against your blind spots. Where their read contradicts yours, that gap is exactly what this step exists to surface.

Doing this with a partner? You two are each other’s lowest-friction outside input — swap the two questions above this week and you’ve got the whole step for free.

✓ End of Day 0

A folder (or note) holding your calendar, spending, and history data, and — if you opted in — a few outside-input answers. → Next: Day 1 — Excavation.