Overview: A comprehensive list of core values to help you discover the personal values most important to you.
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What’s most important to you in life?
Your core values determine how you answer this question.
When you know what you value, you can live in accord with those values. This leads to greater fulfillment and personal meaning.
When you don’t know your values, you are likely to violate them often. This creates internal tension, which leads to destructive habits and regressive behavior.
So let’s explore the power of values …
What Are Core Values?
Values are standards of behavior. They are aspirational ideals.
Values represent what’s important—that is, what a person, organization, culture, or society emphasizes.
Core values, also called personal values, are specifically what’s most important to you.
Our core values highlight what we as individuals stand for. These values guide our behaviors, decisions, and actions.
Based on a host of factors including personality, temperament, and life experiences, each of us has a different set of values.
Core values examples include beauty, honesty, discipline, truth, responsibility, and kindness.
A Values Example in Action
Once you identify your personal values, you can use them to make better decisions and positively influence your behavior.
For example, let’s say you value growth. But lately, you’ve been very busy and distracted.
Maybe you’ve been really focused on work or dealing with some family drama.
As soon as you become conscious that you’re not investing any time and energy in something important to you, you can make specific decisions and take action.
You might, for example, decide to carve out extra time for meditation in the morning, or for doing inner work in the evening. It all depends on what “growth” represents to you.
Instinctively, you’ll also begin paying attention to things you’re doing that aren’t supportive. You’ll start saying “no” to certain distractions that don’t support your particular value structure.
In this way, our core values can guide us toward our higher ideals.
How Many Values Should You Have on Your List?
Below you’ll find a list of over 200 potential core values.
Obviously, if everything is an ideal standard, then nothing is really important.
In working with clients for over 25 years, I found that the target number of core values ranges between 5 and 10.
Ideally, I would say keep your number of core values as close to five as possible.
How to Determine Your Core Values
When people first hear about core values, they often want to select them from a list of values. It seems easier to pick them from a menu.
But as I’ve noted elsewhere:
Values aren’t selected; they’re discovered. We don’t choose our values. Our values reveal themselves to us.
If you exclusively use a list of core values, your conscious mind will evaluate which values “appear better” than others.
You’re likely to select values that “sound good” based on your desired self-image instead of what’s intrinsically meaningful to you.
Instead of picking from a list, in the 7-Step Discovery Exercise, I offer a free step-by-step process to help you define your core values.
A List of Over 200 Personal Core Values
However, it is useful to scan a core values list to prime yourself before doing these types of exercises.
As a reference, here’s a list of 230 values examples:
| Values A – E | Values E – P | Values P – W |
|---|---|---|
| Acceptance | Exploration | Present |
| Accomplishment | Expressive | Productivity |
| Accountability | Fairness | Professionalism |
| Accuracy | Family | Prosperity |
| Achievement | Famous | Purpose |
| Adaptability | Fearless | Quality |
| Alertness | Feelings | Realistic |
| Altruism | Ferocious | Reason |
| Ambition | Fidelity | Recognition |
| Amusement | Focus | Recreation |
| Assertiveness | Foresight | Reflective |
| Attentive | Fortitude | Respect |
| Awareness | Freedom | Responsibility |
| Balance | Friendship | Restraint |
| Beauty | Fun | Results-oriented |
| Boldness | Generosity | Reverence |
| Bravery | Genius | Rigor |
| Brilliance | Giving | Risk |
| Calm | Goodness | Satisfaction |
| Candor | Grace | Security |
| Capable | Gratitude | Self-reliance |
| Careful | Greatness | Selfless |
| Certainty | Growth | Sensitivity |
| Challenge | Happiness | Serenity |
| Charity | Hard work | Service |
| Cleanliness | Harmony | Sharing |
| Clear | Health | Significance |
| Clever | Honesty | Silence |
| Comfort | Honor | Simplicity |
| Commitment | Hope | Sincerity |
| Common sense | Humility | Skill |
| Communication | Humor | Skillfulness |
| Community | Imagination | Smart |
| Compassion | Improvement | Solitude |
| Competence | Independence | Spirit |
| Concentration | Individuality | Spirituality |
| Confidence | Innovation | Spontaneous |
| Connection | Inquisitive | Stability |
| Consciousness | Insightful | Status |
| Consistency | Inspiring | Stewardship |
| Contentment | Integrity | Strength |
| Contribution | Intelligence | Structure |
| Control | Intensity | Success |
| Conviction | Intuitive | Support |
| Cooperation | Joy | Surprise |
| Courage | Justice | Sustainability |
| Courtesy | Kindness | Talent |
| Creation | Knowledge | Teamwork |
| Creativity | Lawful | Temperance |
| Credibility | Leadership | Thankful |
| Curiosity | Learning | Thorough |
| Decisive | Liberty | Thoughtful |
| Decisiveness | Logic | Timeliness |
| Dedication | Love | Tolerance |
| Dependability | Loyalty | Toughness |
| Determination | Mastery | Traditional |
| Development | Maturity | Tranquility |
| Devotion | Meaning | Transparency |
| Dignity | Moderation | Trust |
| Discipline | Motivation | Trustworthy |
| Discovery | Openness | Truth |
| Drive | Optimism | Understanding |
| Effectiveness | Order | Uniqueness |
| Efficiency | Organization | Unity |
| Empathy | Originality | Valor |
| Empower | Passion | Victory |
| Endurance | Patience | Vigor |
| Energy | Peace | Vision |
| Enjoyment | Performance | Vitality |
| Enthusiasm | Persistence | Wealth |
| Equality | Playfulness | Welcoming |
| Ethical | Poise | Winning |
| Excellence | Potential | Wisdom |
| Experience | Power | Wonder |
Core Values List by Category
If you go through my 7-Step Discovery Process, it’s helpful to ensure you don’t miss any key categories that are important to you.
As such, I’ve curated the above core values list into categories for your review. In no particular order:
- Integrity
- Feelings
- Achievement
- Intelligence
- Spirituality
- Creativity
- Freedom
- Courage
- Order
- Enjoyment
- Presence
- Health
But please take these categories loosely. They can change based on the perspective.
| Integrity | Achievement | Intelligence |
|---|---|---|
| Accountability | Accomplishment | Brilliance |
| Candor | Capable | Clever |
| Commitment | Challenge | Common sense |
| Dependability | Challenge | Decisiveness |
| Dignity | Competence | Foresight |
| Honesty | Credibility | Genius |
| Honor | Determination | Insightful |
| Responsibility | Development | Knowledge |
| Sincerity | Drive | Learning |
| Transparency | Effectiveness | Logic |
| Trust | Empower | Openness |
| Trustworthy | Endurance | Realistic |
| Truth | Excellence | Reason |
| Famous | Reflective | |
| Feelings | Greatness | Smart |
| Acceptance | Growth | Thoughtful |
| Comfort | Hard work | Understanding |
| Compassion | Improvement | Vision |
| Contentment | Influence | Wisdom |
| Empathy | Intensity | |
| Grace | Leadership | Strength |
| Gratitude | Mastery | Ambition |
| Happiness | Motivation | Assertiveness |
| Hope | Performance | Boldness |
| Inspiring | Persistence | Confidence |
| Irreverent | Potential | Dedication |
| Joy | Power | Discipline |
| Kindness | Productivity | Ferocious |
| Love | Professionalism | Fortitude |
| Optimism | Prosperity | Persistence |
| Passion | Recognition | Power |
| Peace | Results-oriented | Restraint |
| Poise | Risk | Rigor |
| Respect | Significance | Self-reliance |
| Reverence | Skill | Temperance |
| Satisfaction | Skillfulness | Toughness |
| Serenity | Status | Vigor |
| Thankful | Success | Will |
| Tranquility | Talent | |
| Welcoming | Victory | Freedom |
| Wealth | Independence | |
| Spirituality | Winning | Individuality |
| Adaptability | Liberty | |
| Altruism | Creativity | |
| Balance | Creation | Courage |
| Charity | Curiosity | Bravery |
| Communication | Discovery | Conviction |
| Community | Exploration | Fearless |
| Connection | Expressive | Valor |
| Consciousness | Imagination | |
| Contribution | Innovation | Order |
| Cooperation | Inquisitive | Accuracy |
| Courtesy | Intuitive | Careful |
| Devotion | Openness | Certainty |
| Equality | Originality | Cleanliness |
| Ethical | Uniqueness | Consistency |
| Fairness | Wonder | Control |
| Family | Decisive | |
| Fidelity | Enjoyment | Economy |
| Friendship | Amusement | Justice |
| Generosity | Enthusiasm | Lawful |
| Giving | Experience | Moderation |
| Goodness | Fun | Organization |
| Harmony | Humor | Security |
| Humility | Playfulness | Stability |
| Loyalty | Recreation | Structure |
| Maturity | Spontaneous | Thorough |
| Meaning | Surprise | Timeliness |
| Selfless | ||
| Sensitivity | Presence | Health |
| Service | Alertness | Energy |
| Sharing | Attentive | Vitality |
| Spirit | Awareness | |
| Stewardship | Beauty | |
| Support | Calm | |
| Sustainability | Clear | |
| Teamwork | Concentration | |
| Tolerance | Focus | |
| Unity | Silence | |
| Simplicity | ||
| Solitude |
Ready to Define Your Core Values?
Since I published the original version of the 7 Steps Discovery Process and this values list in 2017, over 2.5 million individuals have begun their journey to discover their values.
However, after surveying thousands of subscribers, I learned that many individuals were still getting stuck in this discovery process.
- How do you know if you’ve selected the “right” values?
- How do you prioritize and pick only a few values? (3 out of a 200+!?!)
- And how the heck do I live these values each day?
So, after months of development, I refined the 7-step process and crafted it into a step-by-step course.
If you’re interested in finding your authentic values and committed to living your values each day …
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