How to find your core values, with a list of 60 to start from
Core values are the few things that matter enough to shape your choices when something has to give. Most people can name a dozen things they care about. The useful work is finding the handful that actually decide things for you.
This guide walks through a simple exercise: start broad with a list, narrow it down, then check the result against what you really do. The last step is the one most value exercises skip, and it is the one that makes the list useful.
Values are not goals
A goal is something you can finish: run a marathon, get promoted, buy a house. A value is a direction you keep choosing: health, growth, security. You can reach a goal and be done with it. You never finish a value; you just keep acting on it or not.
That difference matters because values are most useful when goals conflict. Taking the promotion and being home for dinner may both be goals. Your values are what tell you which one to protect when you cannot have both.
Start with a list
Read through these sixty and mark every one that feels important to you. Do not overthink it; you will narrow the list next.
- Achievement
- Adventure
- Authenticity
- Autonomy
- Balance
- Beauty
- Belonging
- Calm
- Challenge
- Community
- Compassion
- Competence
- Connection
- Contribution
- Courage
- Creativity
- Curiosity
- Discipline
- Excellence
- Fairness
- Faith
- Family
- Freedom
- Friendship
- Fun
- Generosity
- Growth
- Health
- Honesty
- Humility
- Humor
- Independence
- Influence
- Integrity
- Justice
- Kindness
- Knowledge
- Leadership
- Learning
- Love
- Loyalty
- Meaning
- Mastery
- Nature
- Openness
- Order
- Patience
- Peace
- Play
- Purpose
- Recognition
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Security
- Service
- Simplicity
- Spirituality
- Stability
- Tradition
- Wisdom
Narrow it to five
Cut to ten
From everything you marked, keep the ten that feel least negotiable. If two words mean nearly the same thing to you, merge them.
Cut to five with forced choices
Compare values in pairs: if you could only keep one of these two for the next year, which would it be? The ones that keep winning are your core.
Define each in your own words
Write one sentence for each of your five. "Freedom" means different things to different people; your sentence is what makes it yours.
Test them against your life
A value you never act on is closer to a wish. Check your five against three sources of evidence:
- Your calendar: where did your time go last week?
- Your hardest recent decision: which value actually won?
- Your regrets: which value were you not honoring when you felt most off track?
Gaps are not failures. They are the most useful thing the exercise produces. A value that keeps losing to another one tells you where a real tradeoff is being made, often without you choosing it on purpose.
Use them when a choice is hard
Values earn their keep in tradeoffs. When a decision stalls, name the two values it seems to put in conflict, then look for an option that honors both, even partly. If there is none, you at least know what you are choosing, and why.
Common questions
How many core values should I have?
Three to five is a common range. Fewer is easier to use; with more than about seven, the list tends to stop helping you choose between things.
Can my core values change?
Yes. Values often shift with life stage and circumstances. Revisiting the exercise every year or after a big change is a good habit.
Is the Values Signal quiz a values assessment?
It is an informal reflection quiz about the tradeoffs behind everyday choices. It is not a validated values inventory, and choosing one option in a short quiz does not mean another value is absent from your life.
For reflection and general information. Not medical or mental health advice, and not a diagnosis.