What is values hierarchy decisions?

Values hierarchy decisions is a concept in personal epistemology: When facing a difficult choice ask which option best serves your highest values.

Example: You receive two job offers. One pays 40% more. The other involves work that aligns with your top three values: autonomy, creative problem-solving, and mentorship. A purely analytical comparison — salary, benefits, commute, title — produces paralysis because both options have legitimate advantages. But when you run each offer through your values hierarchy, the decision simplifies. Not because the trade-offs disappear, but because you now have a principled basis for accepting them. You take the lower-paying role and sleep well, because the decision was made on grounds you endorse rather than grounds you stumbled into.

This concept is part of Phase 32 (Value Identification) in the How to Think curriculum, which builds the epistemic infrastructure for value identification.