Live Your Core Values: 10-Minute Exercise to Increase Your Success
How are you showing up at work? In your personal relationships? For yourself? How you show up in the world is determined by your core values.
It doesn’t take years of self-reflection to uncover your core values. This simple exercise can help you determine them so you can start aligning your personal goals with them. How long will it take? About 10 minutes, well worth the investment!
Grab a pen and piece of paper and let’s go!
1. Determine Your Core Values
From the list below, choose and write down every core value that resonates with you. Do not overthink your selection. As you read through the list, simply write down the words that feel like a core value to you personally. If you think of a value you possess that is not on the list, write it down.
| Abundance Acceptance Accountability Achievement Adventure Advocacy Ambition Appreciation Attractiveness Autonomy Balance Being the Best Benevolence Boldness Brilliance Calmness Caring Challenge Charity Cheerfulness Cleverness Collaboration Community Commitment Compassion Consistency Contribution Cooperation Creativity Credibility Curiosity Daring Decisiveness |
Dedication Dependability Diversity Empathy Encouragement Enthusiasm Ethics Excellence Expressiveness Fairness Family Flexibility Friendships Freedom Fun Generosity Grace Growth Happiness Health Honesty Humility Humor Inclusiveness Independence Individuality Innovation Inspiration Intelligence Intuition Joy |
Kindness Knowledge Leadership Learning Love Loyalty Making a Difference Mindfulness Motivation Optimism Open-Mindedness Originality Passion Performance Personal Development Peace Perfection Playfulness Popularity Power Preparedness Proactivity Proactive Professionalism Punctuality Quality Recognition Relationships Reliability Resilience |
Resourcefulness Responsibility Responsiveness Risk Taking Safety Security Self-Control Selflessness Service Simplicity Spirituality Stability SuccessTeamwork Thankfulness Thoughtfulness Traditionalism Trustworthiness Understanding Uniqueness Usefulness Versatility Vision Warmth Wealth Well-Being Wisdom Zeal |
2. Group All Similar Values Together from the List of Values You Just Created
Group them in a way that makes sense to you, personally. Create a maximum of five groupings. If you have more than five groupings, drop the least important grouping(s). See the example below.
| Abundance | Acceptance | Appreciation | Balance | Cheerfulness |
| Growth | Compassion | Encouragement | Health | Fun |
| Wealth | Inclusiveness | Thankfulness | Personal Development | Happiness |
| Security | Intuition | Thoughtfulness | Spirituality | Humor |
| Freedom | Kindness | Mindfulness | Well-being | Inspiration |
| Independence | Love | Joy | ||
| Flexibility | Making a Difference | Optimism | ||
| Peace | Open-Mindedness | Playfulness | ||
| Trustworthiness | ||||
| Relationships |
3. Choose One Word Within Each Group that Represents the Label for the Entire Group
Again, do not overthink your labels – there are no right or wrong answers. You are defining the answer that is right for you. See the example below – the label chosen for the grouping is bolded.
| Abundance | Acceptance | Appreciation | Balance | Cheerfulness |
| Growth | Compassion | Encouragement | Health | Fun |
| Wealth | Inclusiveness | Thankfulness | Personal Development | Happiness |
| Security | Intuition | Thoughtfulness | Spirituality | Humor |
| Freedom | Kindness | Mindfulness | Well-being | Inspiration |
| Independence | Love | Joy | ||
| Flexibility | Making a Difference | Optimism | ||
| Peace | Open-Mindedness | Playfulness | ||
| Trustworthiness | ||||
| Relationships |
4. Add a Verb to Each Value Label
Add a verb to each value so you can see what it looks like as an actionable core value. For example:
Live in freedom.
Seek opportunities for making a difference.
Act with mindfulness.
Promote well-being.
Multiply happiness.
This will guide you in the actions you need to take to feel like you are truly living on purpose.
5. Finally, Post Your Core Values Where You See Them when Faced with Decisions
Where should you post them? Write your core values in order of priority in your planner, so they are available as an easy reference when you are faced with decisions. Put them on a sticky on the edge of your computer screen. Or make a background with them on it for your cell phone. For example:
1. Live in freedom.
2. Act with mindfulness.
3. Promote well-being.
4. Multiply happiness.
5. Seek opportunities for making a difference.
Now Live Your Core Values!
If we can get to the place where we show up as our genuine selves,
and let each other see who we really are,
the awe-inspiring ripple effect
will change the world.
Terrie M. Williams
The most important thing you can do for your personal success today is to know your core values and use them as your guide.
Knowing core values is important because when we need to choose or decide something, you can do so easily by simply determining if the choice lines up with your true core values. A life lined-up with personal values is a well-lived, purpose-filled life.
Want to learn more? Join us at the next Global TapRooT® Summit!
Abundance, Acceptance, Appreciation, Balance, Cheerfulness
This activity validated what I value most in life and helped me reorient my priorities where I seemed to slacken.
compassion, appreciation, acceptance, development, wisdom, kindness, ambition
Great exercise to place my value cores in a piece of paper y reminde myself everyday. Thank you
A reminder to reflect on what is important on a daily basis.
Love this assignment
una buena manera de conocernos y saber lo que valemos
this is great
Wealth, Growth, Daring, Loving, Happiness, Zeal
Chao Yim-San Diego CA.
March 25,2024 at 12:16 AM
Wonderful training, Happiness, Loving, Caring, Kindness, thank you.
Chao Yim-San Diego, CA
March 25,2024 12:25 AM
I enjoy taking this training, it’s more knowledge to use in my classroom with the students and families in the future. It’s a wonderful training. I love it.
Great exercise. ! I loved the idea of a sticky note ( useful tool) during decision-making. A life lined up with personal core values is a well-lived life.
An instructive simple way to better understand what has for me been the means to navigate the past 80+ years with reasonable success and few regrets, Thanks.
Cheerfulness, Cleverness, honesty, loving is
Luis Luna Miranda (301415342) Centennial College.
Loyalty, Security, Friendship, Making difference, Happiness,
Feel the happiness.
Working hard makes the difference.
I’ve always loved this exercise for identifying personal values. I wonder if anyone has used it to identify organizational values? Also, any experience in operationalizing the values by identifying behaviors to go along with them? Thanks!
This training is wonderful, and excellent.
God is Love. Empathy, open-mindedness, GRATTITUDE.
show Performance, offer acceptance, maintain balance, and Promote well-being. multiply happiness, share love, offer kindness worship peace, compassion,
Mindfulness, Commitment, Trustworthiness, Professionalism, Proactive
My core values are
Acceptance
Accountability
Ambition
Boldness
Creativity
Dedication
Fairness
Humility
Kindness
Punctuality
Kindness – acceptance
Humility – fairness
Boldness – ambition
Dedication – creativity
Accountability- punctuality
Kindness is for group 1
Fairness for group 2
Ambition for group 3
Dedication for group 4
Accountability for group 5
Kindness is the key to success
Acting with fairness makes you worthy
Live with ambition
Work with dedication
Human Life is an accountability
love family, prioritize honesty, maintain balance, focus on relationships, bleed kindness
Cheerfulness, Adventurous, and Humorous (Jon)
Fun, Humor, Kindness (Jerry)
Relationship, Freedom, Quality (Leon)
Pursue a growth mindset and never stop learning.
Be accountable for the actions of the team and yourself.
Take risks.
Be kind, accepting, and give all those around you grace.
Be humble.
This is a good exercise as it validates what i have been living as my core values, which are:
Candour and integrity (I have now put them in sentence to read “Live in candour and integrity in all things”).
Gratitude to God and man.
Can-do.
Compassion and Empathy (I have now put them in sentence to read “Demonstrate Compassion and Empathy at all times”.
Take Care,
Do Good,
Have Fun
Accountability, Excellence, Cheerfulness, Passion, Comittment
Creativity can solve most problems, recognizing teamwork builds unity, and humility (being humble) is powerful in itself.
Family, calmness, versatility, collaboration, optimism
I think the exercise tied perfectly with the HBR supplemental reading that mentions “focus on whole-person growth”; “transforming not just how I lead but how I live”; and “structured self reflection”.
Practice empathy