# The Values Sort — Debrief

> A value earns its place by what it costs, not how it sounds — the debrief is where the five get audited against the life you actually ran.
> Use with `the-values-sort-guide.md`. The gap card at minute 14 is the compressed version; this sheet is the full one.

## How to run this debrief

- Keep the Core five and the gap card face up on the table. The whole debrief is about the distance between those two objects and the tested decision.
- Ask about the cuts before the keeps. What left the pile tells you more than what stayed.
- Refuse the poster moment. Nobody leaves with a list of five; they leave with five, one tested decision, and one dated change.

## Read the five

- Which value did you fight hardest to keep in Core? What was it costing you to hold it?
- Which value did you cut — and did the cut sting, or did you feel relief? Relief means it was never really yours.
- Is there a value you put in Core because it sounds good, not because you'd pay for it? Move it.
- What's a value that isn't on the deck at all but belongs in your five? Write it on a blank.

## The seven debrief questions

**1. The honored and the traded.**
"The decision you picked — which of your five did it honor, and which did it quietly trade away?"
→ Targets: the first real reading; values show up in behavior, not in banners.

**2. Conscious or collateral.**
"Was that trade conscious, or did it happen while you weren't looking?"
→ Targets: the difference between a choice and an accident; both are legitimate findings, only one is honest.

**3. Same decision, tomorrow.**
"If you made the same decision again tomorrow, would you make the same trade? Why or why not?"
→ Targets: whether the value ordering is load-bearing or just retrospective narration.

**4. The avoided decision.**
"Is there a decision you avoided picking because it would expose the gap? That's the one to test."
→ Targets: the decision you didn't bring is usually the one the five already know about.

**5. The one change.**
"What is the one change — more of a value you kept cutting, or one upcoming decision made differently?"
→ Targets: subtraction beats addition; one concrete change is testable, a resolution isn't.

**6. The proof.**
"When will you know you've actually made it, not just decided to?"
→ Targets: the dated check on the gap card; "decided to" is the failure mode nobody notices.

**7. The price of the almost-cut.**
"What does it cost you to keep the value you almost cut?"
→ Targets: naming the price converts the five from a preference list into a commitment — and if nothing, question its place in Core.

## Failure modes of the debrief

| Failure mode | Why it happens | The rescue |
|---|---|---|
| Can't cut to five | The pain of the cut is being avoided | Force it anyway — five is the point, not a suggestion; the flinch is the finding. |
| Every value feels "important" | The sort ran too comfortably | Move more into "Not mine" until Core gets uncomfortable; comfort means nobody is choosing. |
| The test decision has no tension | The safe, everyone-won story was picked | Choose a harder, more recent one; the avoided decision is the right card. |