What are personal values?

(Values are) “a set of ethical beliefs and preferences that determine our sense of right and wrong”

SOURCE: OxfordReference.com (https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780198609957.001.0001/acref-9780198609957-e-8643)

There is not one definitive list of a personal values. And there are no values that are better than others. They are personal to you.

Values can be used when you are considering what is the best action to take or the relative importance of something to you, or more generally, how to want to live your live day-to-day. Values can help guide your behaviours and the decisions you make in life.

Examples of personal values

Listed in alphabetical order, here are examples of thirty personal values:

How to use values in your life

I can be fairly sure that you have already used your personal values in your life. You may not have consciously sat down to think about what your values are. But you probably have used them at some point, even subconsciously, without even knowing you are referring to them. Values are often considered when you have been faced with making an important decision in your life or when setting goals.

You might want to pro-actively seek ways to live your life more aligned to your values. You may get a sense that something isn’t quite right in yourself. Or you may be feeling a bit stuck, and not sure why. Your values can help guide you, to help you find a way out of these feelings.

Or, you may be content in your life right now. So, it could be useful to determine what your values are now so that you have them ready to draw upon and use when you are faced with a difficult decision.

An example of when you can use personal values is when you are deciding where to live. If ‘family’ value are important to you, then you want be guided to live near you current family or consider transport and travel links. If ‘success’ is important to you in a work context, then your living location may be more driven by proximity to locations which support your career aspirations, such as large cities or transport links. But if you are more aligned to having ‘tranquillity’ in your life right now, then you may seek space allowing you to easier access to nature and a calming environment. Very often, there is not right or wrong answer for these decisions. Values are one set of tools we can use to guide us towards what is right for us right now.

The positive impact of knowing your values

Taking time to determine what your values can feel like you are getting to know yourself a bit better. I know this can sound odd. But I think most of spend more time thinking about what others think of us than we do thinking about ourselves. Investing an hour or two in gaining greater self-awareness can help in many aspects of your life. Being guided by your values can be another step in the direction of being more ‘you’.

If you have worked in an organisation for any length of time, you might be familiar with organisational values. You’ll find them in your company handbook, somewhere on your company website and maybe even printed out and pinned to a few noticeboards. Organisational values are a set of beliefs that act as guiding principles for direction and purpose. The extent to how much these organisational values are remembered by employees and used in day-to-day work varies considerably in my experience. But used well, they can be embedded into the company culture and referred to by employees when working through difficult decisions or through organisational transition.

I view personal values in a similar way to organisational values. Values do not tell you the answer, but can help you determine what the important factors are when making a decision. You can then prioritise and score those factors, to help you reach the best decision for you.

Find your personal values

There is no single official assessment or workbook you complete to find your own personal values.

I use identification of personal values in coaching conversations. Often alongside strengths identification. Both exercises help to improve self-awareness and can act as a great foundation. I have developed a list of 70+ values, and support clients to short-list down to 5 core values. I then support clients with exploring what these values mean to them, and which values need most focus right now. Conversations often then lead to practical actions that can be taken.

If you are interested in getting support with identifying your own personal values and gaining greater alignment with them in your life, then contact me or book a call directly into my calendar.