Do you ever just feel kinda stuck? Or busy, but not fulfilled? Maybe you think you lack motivation or self discipline to make progress toward your goals. You might go through frequent burnout cycles. If any of those sound familiar, identifying your personal core values might help.
What are Personal Core Values?
Personal core values are the guiding beliefs or principles that define ideal standards and behavior. They are the qualities that matter most to you.
Your core values probably started forming when you were a child. They may have been influenced by your parents, siblings, family members, teachers, authority figures, friends, community, religion, culture, and experiences.
If you haven’t taken the time to identify your core beliefs, you’ve likely just adopted the priorities and values of those around you. You can take back your power by slowing down and doing the inner work to decide what is important to you.
Core Values Examples
Here are some examples of some core values and how they might manifest in someone’s life. Reading through them may help you feel into if they resonate or describe you.
Learning
If one of your values is learning, you might crave negative feedback and view it as an opportunity for growth. You view failure as a learning opportunity.
Health
With health as one of your values, you may prioritize exercise, nutrition, and healthy sleep habits. You probably listen to your body, and try to give it what it needs to perform its best.
Independence
Independence as a value might cause you to take ownership and pride in your abilities to do it yourself. You avoid asking others for help.
Peace
If peace is one of your values, you probably prioritize finding common ground with others over being “right.” You are the mediator among your family or colleagues, and help them come to a compromise.
Adventure
Valuing adventure might make you crave new experiences. You may feel trapped by monotony, and need to try new things.
Joyfulness
If you value joyfulness, you probably look for the silver lining in everything. You love to celebrate the little wins.
Connection
With connection as a core value, you prioritize relationships over achievement or ambitions. You love people and thrive on getting to know others at a deeper level.
Identifying Personal Core Values
Finding your values can take some inner work. You’ll need to make the time and space for self reflection, which can be a challenge in our overstimulating world. Come at it from the lens of discovery. Be honest, curious, and non-judgemental. There are no wrong answers, and your values may be different than anyone you know.
Journaling can be a helpful exercise to identify your values. Guided prompts can be helpful. The Core Values Workbook available at the top of this page has my favorite prompts. It walks you through exercises to help identify what’s important to you.
Learn best through video? Check out my Core Values series.
