Find your core values

Have you ever thought about what your values are? 

Deliberately sitting down and thinking about your values can be a very valuable experience. It helps you identify what is important to you and if you are living in a way that supports that. 

In order to identify your values:

• Set aside some quiet, alone time

• Take three long, deep breaths to get centered and present

• Think about when you are at your best, your most present, and what defines you

• Look at the list below and write down anything that you identify with 

• Look at that list and pick the 3-5 things that you MOST value and cherish

• You will probably want to pick more than five, but you have to keep eliminating until you get down to just a handful, otherwise they will not be actionable 

Keep in mind that these are YOUR values, not society’s, not your family’s, just yours and what matters most to you.

Once you have your list of values, don’t just forget about them. You have identified how you most want to live - display your values somewhere that you can be reminded of them and periodically check in to see if you are living in accordance with them. They will be most beneficial and impactful when you actually use them to make changes in your life. 

Your values can also help you when you have to make tough decisions - think about which decision most aligns with your values and what is important to you. 

Enjoy this exercise! It can be extremely valuable and helpful to know what matters most to you and shape your life around them.

And if you are curious, my values are - joy, curiosity, adventure, connection, freedom

List of Values (borrowed from Brené Brown and Dare to Lead)

Accountability

Achievement

Adaptability

Adventure

Altruism

Ambition

Authenticity

Balance

Beauty

Being the best

Belonging

Career

Caring

Collaboration

Commitment

Community

Compassion

Competence

Confidence

Connection

Contentment

Contribution

Cooperation

Courage

Creativity

Curiosity

Dignity

Diversity

Environment

Efficiency

Equality

Ethics

Excellence

Fairness

Faith

Family

Financial stability

Forgiveness

Freedom

Friendship

Fun

Future generations

Generosity

Giving back

Grace

Gratitude

Growth

Harmony

Health

Home

Honesty

Hope

Humility

Humor

Inclusion

Independence

Initiative

Integrity

Intuition

Job security

Joy

Justice

Kindness

Knowledge

Leadership

Learning

Legacy

Leisure

Love

Loyalty

Making a difference

Nature

Openness

Optimism

Order

Parenting

Patience

Patriotism

Peace

Perseverance

Personal fulfillment

Power

Pride

Recognition

Reliability

Resourcefulness

Respect

Responsibility

Risk-taking

Safety

Security

Self-discipline

Self-expression

Self-respect

Serenity

Service

Simplicity

Spirituality

Sportsmanship

Stewardship

Success

Teamwork

Thrift

Time

Tradition

Travel

Trust

Truth

Understanding

Uniqueness

Usefulness

Vision

Vulnerability

Wealth

Well-being

Whole-heartedness

Wisdom

Write your own!