Monday Morning Musings
Volume XXIV, Number 33 (Issue 1194) August 17, 2026
Battling Complacency – Part IV Connections and Actuators
Leveraging Personal Values
Think about your personal value system. Where did it come from? Parents, teachers, your faith community, a significant other, a mentor, peers perhaps? Has it evolved as you have experienced more of life? Next question: is it codified (i.e., written down)? If not, do you find it varies some according to the situation? I ask these and similar questions because sometimes the best tool at our disposal in the battle against complacency is tuning into and turning on an individual’s personal value system.
As I consider the values I try to live by and model it strikes me I could answer “yes” to just about every one of the questions I just posed. For starters, like you I did not come from the womb with a set of values or moral code. Rather, it developed through a combination of formal and informal teachings and interactions. It has not always been formally codified – at least not by my hand. As a result, there have been times when the situation, available options, and a back-of-the-envelop risk and reward assessment carried the day and my decision. Such flexibility did not always serve me or others well, however. As a result, in more recent times I have endeavored to follow a moral code that is in keeping with the Christ-centered, thought-provoking teachings one might hear in an Episcopal Church on any given Sunday. Combine that with the benefits of growing up and spending much of my time in and around people with a good moral compass and I like to believe I am better at setting a good example than I once was.
Still, like everyone else, I am far from perfect. I make mistakes and do things I regret. The tenets of my moral code or value system can therefore be lumped into two broad categories: aspirational and permission to play. As the term indicates, aspirational values are those I try hard to practice day-in and day-out though I sometimes fail. That is undoubtedly the largest list of words I try to live by. The shorter list – though it should not be – are those values that are permission to play in nature. Another way to put this is permission to play values are those behaviors where a violation is almost certain to injure another not to mention land one in hot water.
Okay, so what is this about using an individual’s personal value system as a means to battle complacency? In a phrase, we need to put cognitive dissonance to work. That is, we must ask them the question, would the person you desire to be have made that decision, taken that action, said what you said? If their answer is “no,” then you have something to work with in the way of reshaping future decisions and actions. Of course, this presupposes two things. First, that another individual’s personal values are in keeping with the behaviors you are hoping to see from them. Second, that you know what their personal values are and you can help them recognize and own the incongruencies.
In addition to putting cognitive dissonance to work, another tool you can use is reinforcement and conditioning. To the extent you can create a reflexive response to a certain set of circumstances you can expect to see a desired action. The problem with relying on conditioning to trigger a certain action and outcome is much of the time we find ourselves dealing with one-off events where some interpretation, critical thinking, and judgement are required. Thus, conditioning alone may not be the answer.
In Part V we will examine the influence of an individual’s personal goals and ambitions when it comes to battling complacency.
Soli Deo Gloria
“The woman came and knelt before him. ‘Lord, help me!’ she said. He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’
‘Yes it is, Lord,’ she said. ‘Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed at that moment.” Matthew 15:25-28
J. Keith Hughey
Mobile: (210) 260-0955
E-mail: keith@jkeithhughey.com
Website: www.jkeithhughey.com
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