Core Values – Discover What’s Most Important to You

How to Determine Your Personal Values

In the 7 Steps to Discovering Your Core Values, I offer a free step-by-step process to find your personal values.

When people hear about core values, they often want to select them from a list of personal values. It seems easier to pick them from a menu.

But as I wrote in this guide:

Values aren’t selected; they’re discovered. We don’t choose our values. Our values reveal themselves to us.

If you start with a list of core values, your conscious mind will evaluate which values appear “better” than others. You will select personal values that “sound good” based on your desired self-image.

Instead of picking from a list, in Step 2 of the personal values process, I offer exercises to discover your personal values.

A List of Over 200 Personal Values

However, it is useful to scan a core values list to prime yourself before the exercises.

And it’s beneficial to review a list of core values after you brainstorm your list to determine if you missed something important.

As a reference, here’s a list of 230 personal values:

Acceptance
Accomplishment
Accountability
Accuracy
Achievement
Adaptability
Alertness
Altruism
Ambition
Amusement
Assertiveness
Attentive
Awareness
Balance
Beauty
Boldness
Bravery
Brilliance
Calm
Candor
Capable
Careful
Certainty
Challenge
Charity
Cleanliness
Clear
Clever
Comfort
Commitment
Common sense
Communication
Community
Compassion
Competence
Concentration
Confidence
Connection
Consciousness
Consistency
Contentment
Contribution
Control
Conviction
Cooperation
Courage
Courtesy
Creation
Creativity
Credibility
Curiosity
Decisive
Decisiveness
Dedication
Dependability
Determination
Development
Devotion
Dignity
Discipline
Discovery
Drive
Effectiveness
Efficiency
Empathy
Empower
Endurance
Energy
Enjoyment
Enthusiasm
Equality
Ethical
Excellence
Experience
Exploration
Expressive
Fairness
Family
Famous
Fearless
Feelings
Ferocious
Fidelity
Focus
Foresight
Fortitude
Freedom
Friendship
Fun
Generosity
Genius
Giving
Goodness
Grace
Gratitude
Greatness
Growth
Happiness
Hard work
Harmony
Health
Honesty
Honor
Hope
Humility
Humor
Imagination
Improvement
Independence
Individuality
Innovation
Inquisitive
Insightful
Inspiring
Integrity
Intelligence
Intensity
Intuitive
Irreverent
Joy
Justice
Kindness
Knowledge
Lawful
Leadership
Learning
Liberty
Logic
Love
Loyalty
Mastery
Maturity
Meaning
Moderation
Motivation
Openness
Optimism
Order
Organization
Originality
Passion
Patience
Peace
Performance
Persistence
Playfulness
Poise
Potential
Power
Present
Productivity
Professionalism
Prosperity
Purpose
Quality
Realistic
Reason
Recognition
Recreation
Reflective
Respect
Responsibility
Restraint
Results-oriented
Reverence
Rigor
Risk
Satisfaction
Security
Self-reliance
Selfless
Sensitivity
Serenity
Service
Sharing
Significance
Silence
Simplicity
Sincerity
Skill
Skillfulness
Smart
Solitude
Spirit
Spirituality
Spontaneous
Stability
Status
Stewardship
Strength
Structure
Success
Support
Surprise
Sustainability
Talent
Teamwork
Temperance
Thankful
Thorough
Thoughtful
Timeliness
Tolerance
Toughness
Traditional
Tranquility
Transparency
Trust
Trustworthy
Truth
Understanding
Uniqueness
Unity
Valor
Victory
Vigor
Vision
Vitality
Wealth
Welcoming
Winning
Wisdom
Wonder

Personal Core Values List by Category

When you go through the core values process, it’s helpful to ensure you didn’t miss any key categories important to you.

I’ve curated the above core values list into categories for your review. But please take these categories loosely. They will change based on the perspective you hold.

Integrity

Accountability
Candor
Commitment
Dependability
Dignity
Honesty
Honor
Responsibility
Sincerity
Transparency
Trust
Trustworthy
Truth

Feelings

Acceptance
Comfort
Compassion
Contentment
Empathy
Grace
Gratitude
Happiness
Hope
Inspiring
Irreverent
Joy
Kindness
Love
Optimism
Passion
Peace
Poise
Respect
Reverence
Satisfaction
Serenity
Thankful
Tranquility
Welcoming

Spirituality

Adaptability
Altruism
Balance
Charity
Communication
Community
Connection
Consciousness
Contribution
Cooperation
Courtesy
Devotion
Equality
Ethical
Fairness
Family
Fidelity
Friendship
Generosity
Giving
Goodness
Harmony
Humility
Loyalty
Maturity
Meaning
Selfless
Sensitivity
Service
Sharing
Spirit
Stewardship
Support
Sustainability
Teamwork
Tolerance
Unity

Achievement

Accomplishment
Capable
Challenge
Challenge
Competence
Credibility
Determination
Development
Drive
Effectiveness
Empower
Endurance
Excellence
Famous
Greatness
Growth
Hard work
Improvement
Influence
Intensity
Leadership
Mastery
Motivation
Performance
Persistence
Potential
Power
Productivity
Professionalism
Prosperity
Recognition
Results-oriented
Risk
Significance
Skill
Skillfulness
Status
Success
Talent
Victory
Wealth
Winning

Creativity

Creation
Curiosity
Discovery
Exploration
Expressive
Imagination
Innovation
Inquisitive
Intuitive
Openness
Originality
Uniqueness
Wonder

Enjoyment

Amusement
Enthusiasm
Experience
Fun
Humor
Playfulness
Recreation
Spontaneous
Surprise

Presence

Alertness
Attentive
Awareness
Beauty
Calm
Clear
Concentration
Focus
Silence
Simplicity
Solitude

Intelligence

Brilliance
Clever
Common sense
Decisiveness
Foresight
Genius
Insightful
Knowledge
Learning
Logic
Openness
Realistic
Reason
Reflective
Smart
Thoughtful
Understanding
Vision
Wisdom

Strength

Ambition
Assertiveness
Boldness
Confidence
Dedication
Discipline
Ferocious
Fortitude
Persistence
Power
Restraint
Rigor
Self-reliance
Temperance
Toughness
Vigor
Will

Freedom

Independence
Individuality
Liberty

Courage

Bravery
Conviction
Fearless
Valor

Order

Accuracy
Careful
Certainty
Cleanliness
Consistency
Control
Decisive
Economy
Justice
Lawful
Moderation
Organization
Security
Stability
Structure
Thorough
Timeliness

Health

Energy
Vitality

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