How to Identify Your Core Values
Understanding your core values can profoundly shape your personal growth, decision-making, and overall sense of direction in life. Knowing what drives you at your core not only enhances your ability to make decisions but also helps you resolve internal and external conflicts more effectively. When you’re clear about your values, it’s easier to live in alignment with them, creating a more authentic and fulfilling life. But identifying core values often requires deep self-reflection, which can be challenging. Today, I’m sharing a step-by-step guide on how to identify your core values so you can bring clarity and purpose into every aspect of your personal and professional life.
How to Identify Your Core Values
Before diving into the steps for discovering your values, let’s talk about what core values are and why they’re so significant. Core values represent the beliefs and principles that define who you are. When you identify your core values, you gain insight into why certain decisions, relationships, and goals feel right or wrong to you. They serve as a compass that keeps you grounded as you pursue personal growth, handle conflicts, and make choices that align with who you are.
Whether it’s within your personal life, career, or interactions with family members, identifying your core values can be a transformative step in building a life that reflects your true self.
What are Core Values?
Core values are the guiding beliefs and principles that shape how you view the world and interact with it. These values are usually rooted in your life experiences, cultural background, and family influences. Your core values have a significant impact on your decision-making, whether in personal life, relationships, or professional settings.
For example, if you value integrity, you’re likely to make choices that align with honesty and transparency, even if that path seems more challenging. Or, if growth is a core value, you may seek opportunities for personal development, continually pushing yourself to learn and evolve.
How to Discover Your Core Values
Let’s walk through the steps to uncover your core values. Each of these steps requires some introspection, but the reward is a clearer understanding of yourself.
Step 1: Reflect on Your Life Experiences
Begin by reflecting on moments in your life when you felt deeply fulfilled or proud of yourself. These instances often reveal your values in action. Think of times when you felt energized, purposeful, or at peace. Write down any words, emotions, or actions that come to mind during this exercise.
Step 2: Identify Key Influences
Consider any family members, mentors, or friends who have had a significant impact on your life. Think about why you respect these individuals or the traits they embody that inspire you. Often, the qualities we admire in others reflect values we hold ourselves.
Step 3: Make a List of Values
Using the insights from Steps 1 and 2, start drafting a list of values that resonate with you. This could include words like honesty, compassion, courage, or balance. Don’t filter yourself at this stage—list any value that feels meaningful to you, even if it seems trivial or overlaps with other words. Chapter 4 of Get Grounded provides a list of core values.
Step 4: Categorize and Prioritize Your Values
Once you have a list, try grouping similar values together. For example, if you’ve listed honesty, transparency, and authenticity, you could group them under "Integrity." After grouping, prioritize your top five values. These are the values that resonate most with you and that you aspire to live by.
Step 5: Define What Each Value Means to You
For each of your top five values, write a short description of what it means to you. Personalizing these definitions helps reinforce their significance and clarifies how each value shows up in your personal life. It also serves as a reminder of why these values are essential to your growth and decision-making.
How to Put Core Values Into Practice
Once you’ve identified your core values, it’s essential to bring them to life. Here are a few ways to do just that:
Tip 1: Make Decisions with Your Values in Mind
Tip 2: Align Goals with Your Values
Tip 3: Evaluate Relationships and Activities
Tip 4: Revisit Your Values Regularly