The importance of personal values and 185 examples to consider

A few years ago my life looked very different. I was the head of a physics department in a secondary school in a coastal town in the North East of England. It was a challenge and I loved it. I was absolutely not one to shy away from the “difficult” students and wanted to bring genuine love to the classroom for a subject that so many people grow up to find difficult and even despise. My career and finding success within that, were at the heart of my personal values.

Fast forward to April 2023, I am sat at my desk, working from home as my 14 month old son naps, for a coaching company started by myself and my mum just last year. We take sick days when we need them, understand the necessity of flexibility, adore learning and put changing lives at the heart of what we do. My values have completely changed.

It is normal for values to change and transform as life moves on around us. But if that’s the case, if values are flexible, why is it so very important to know our own?

Values 101

Values are a system, a collection of terms that represent what matters to us in our community, in our culture and society and in our lives as a whole. They are personal beliefs that give us purpose and direction. They are words which resonate with our soul, filling us with joy, hopefulness and ambition.

Personal, core values help us dictate our standards and how we hold others and ourselves accountable in our actions and behaviours. They are a measure of whether life is moving in a direction that we want, in a way that serves who we are.

It may be that some of your personal values remain stable throughout your life. You may always be someone who values patience, choosing to take a breath when faced with a difficult challenge, be that as a young person working your first bar job, or a grandparent dealing with your grandchild’s 3rd tantrum of the day. Some of our values can be fixed within who we are.

As part of our system, there may also be values that move and flex as the situations in our lives change. It is important to continue exploring our values, and to consider often what matters most to us as living to our values can make an incredible difference in our lives.

Why values matter

Knowing your personal values helps you find purpose.

When we take time to explore our values and consider what really matters to us, we give ourselves the opportunity to consider our purpose. The “why” of what lies behind everything we do. Personal values represent so much of who we truly are, underneath the external expectations placed on us by others they remain linked to the us we are deep in our hearts.

Knowing your values helps guide your decisions

When we know our values, and therefore our purpose, it is much easier to make decisions that align with our goals. When we are faced with decisions, especially those that feel life changing, it can be easy to fall into the habit of considering the feelings of others before ourselves. Though considering others and their feelings is a good thing, when we use those feelings to guide our decisions we can be left feeling lost or resentful. By using our personal values to guide our decisions, we can ensure that who we are at our core is leading the way. And, that even if our decisions prove to be mistakes, we made them for the right reasons.

By noticing emotions and how we feel in our body, we can observe whether decisions are being made in alignment with our values.

A decision made against our core values may feel uncomfortable. We may experience anxiety, disappointment or frustration. It may even be more subtle and show up as tension or pain within the body. These feelings are signals to consider whether decisions are being made for the benefit of ourselves or for others. Sometimes we may have to make decisions that don’t align with our values. In those moments it is important to take some time to sit and consider how we could respond differently or avoid those situations in the future - reflection in order to remain in line with our core values is always a useful task.

It is less simple to recognise a decision when it is made in alignment with our values, especially as we are often condition to recognise the negative more readily. It may feel like a very easy decision, or like you are flowing from one point the next. It may leave you with feelings of calm or fill you will joy. In order to know we are making good decisions, we must understand our values.

Personal values can help us to choose our career and life path

As a child we are told to choose a career, that we must learn and prepare for a specific role that will become a part of our lives. Though for some, a life long career may be the right move, for so many of us we move between industries and positions, finding what works best for us at the time.

The decision to take on a role can be a huge one, and making sure we consider our values, and whether a job will help us live to those values, can be the difference between living a life of job satisfaction and work-life balance, or becoming bitter and resentful.

By taking time to consider and prioritise core values in decisions we make around work, we can make it more likely that we will experience job satisfaction and ensure we remain committed when times get tough.

Having clear personal values increases confidence

When you can stand firm behind your decisions, your choices, your career and your goals, because you know you have considered and are looking to live by your values, you can be confident in everything you do. You do not have to question who you are or explain yourself to people who are not aligned with your goals and purpose.

Everyone deserves to feel the confidence that comes with strong personal values.

Here is a collection of 185 personal values you can consider. Read through them and make a list of the words that resonate most highly with you. Consider what behaviours you take part in cause you to live both within the values you have chosen and which cause you to stray from those values.

It is also helpful to consider who around you helps you live a life with these values at the core. Who supports you to make decisions and choices that leave you feeling proud.

There are so many reasons why we trust that knowing your personal values can make a difference in your work, in your relationships and in your whole life.

If you find it difficult to define your core values, or struggle in making decisions that you feel align with who you are, get in touch. As part of our coaching work we can help you discover what truly matters to you, help you set and enforce boundaries and work with you to make decisions that support those values and who you are in your centre.

You can also take a look at ‘Look What I Did In A Year’ a habit building journal that focuses on ensuring your priorities and decisions are decided based on self confidence and security in your values.

We value you. Perhaps it’s time you do too.