The Buffett-Franklin Values Sweep
Extract your values from who you'd invest in versus short, then audit them daily
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 80%
The Buffett-Franklin sweep turns the woolly question 'what are my values?' into a concrete, applied practice by combining two exercises. First, Buffett's: look around your circle and ask who you would invest 10% in and who you would short — for financial wellbeing, or imagining happiness as the currency. Then interrogate why: the people you'd back get the extra mark for others, are honest, hardworking, while those you'd short are narcissistic or self-centred. Those become the values to adopt and the values to avoid, seen clearly because you spot traits in others more easily than in yourself. Second, Franklin's: Benjamin Franklin kept a list of thirteen virtues and reviewed them each evening. MacGill maintains a Google Sheet of his values — including high agency — and scores himself daily, noting where he fell short and could improve, making values something he can understand and apply.
Origin
MacGill combines a Warren Buffett university exercise about who you'd invest in or short with Benjamin Franklin's daily list of thirteen virtues, which he now tracks in a Google Sheet. He half-jokes about naming it the 'Buffett-Franklin sweep the stack'.
Core principles
- 01You see traits far more clearly in others than in yourself
- 02Who you'd back or short reveals the values you admire and reject
- 03Values are useless until made concrete and applied
- 04A daily audit turns abstract virtues into observable behaviour
How to run it
- 1
Survey your circle
Look around at your friends and peers, as Buffett told students to look around the classroom.
Pro tip You can see character in others far more clearly than in yourself.
- 2
Pick invest versus short
Decide who you would invest 10% in and who you would short — in wealth or, better, in happiness as the currency.
- 3
Extract the traits
For each name, ask why: honesty, generosity, hard work on the invest side; narcissism, self-centredness on the short side.
- 4
Codify adopt and avoid values
Turn the admired traits into values to implement and the disliked traits into values to eliminate in yourself.
- 5
Run a daily Franklin audit
Keep a written list and score yourself each evening on whether you lived each value, noting where you could improve.
Pro tip A simple Google Sheet works; ask 'was I actually high agency today?' and log the answer.
Watch out Without the daily instantiation the values stay abstract and never take hold.
In the wild
Following Buffett's exercise, MacGill imagines happiness as a currency and asks which friends he'd invest 10% in and which he'd short. The ones he'd back always give the extra mark to others, are honest, and hardworking; the ones he'd short are narcissistic and make everything about themselves. Those become the values to build and the values to guard against in himself.
→ A concrete adopt/avoid values list derived from real people.
Emulating Franklin's thirteen virtues, MacGill keeps a Google Sheet listing his values, including high agency. Each evening he reviews the day — was I actually high agency today? If not, where could I have been, and he writes it down. This turns values from abstractions into something he can understand, apply, and improve.
→ A repeatable feedback loop that makes values observable and actionable.
Common mistakes
Leaving values abstract
Naming values without a daily practice keeps them woolly and unlived, defeating the whole exercise.
Auditing your own traits blind
Trying to define values by introspection alone misses what's obvious when you judge others first.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone wanting to define and actually live a concrete set of personal values.
Not ideal for
People who already have a working daily values practice and need no re-derivation.
From the transcript
“who would you say you had a budget to invest who would you invest ten percent in over your friends... and which friends would you…”
“Benjamin Franklin used to have a list of thirteen virtues that every day when he would get home would go through them and say did…”
From the episode
Mental Models 101 - How To Make Better Decisions - George MacGill - #069
George MacGill