Does focusing on Values make life more complex?

In an effort to help improve my personal productivity, I was reading the book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.  It’s a great book and I highly recommend it. However, in the first chapter I was surprised to read the following statement: “Focusing on values does not simplify your life. It gives meaning and direction – and a lot more complexity.”

You can imagine that caught my attention. How could focusing on values make anything more complex?

So I looked at the definition of the word ‘complex’ on Merriam-Webster.com and – to keep it simple (pun intended) – I went further and looked at the student dictionary where it states:

1 : a whole made up of many complicated or related parts
2 : a system of thoughts, feelings, and memories that exist in one’s mind but of which one is not aware and which influence one’s behavior

I believe I found my answer.  The issue here relates to how we influence the conscious mind versus the unconscious mind.

David Allen’s focus is breaking down all the parts of one’s activities so you can consciously focus on the specific task that needs to get done. It’s all about the conscious mind.

On the other hand, focusing on a few relevant Values that will build competitive differentiation is all about influencing behavior through the unconscious mind. This is a complex task. But it can be done.

Marketers of great brands have understood this paradox for years, and have figured out how to tap the unconscious mind that changes behavior.

Coke, for example, has found powerfully creative ways to align their brand with the value of Happiness, as can be seen in the story of the Happiness Machine.

IBM has developed an effective way to align their brand with the value of Intelligence, as can be seen with their Smarter Planet campaign.

Asking people to simply be happy or smarter doesn’t work. It’s complex. But it can be done, by those that focus on it.