Core values are intangible, guiding principles and personal ideals. When we become consciously aware of our unique set of values, we can use them to make better decisions and live a life true to ourselves.

How to discover your personal core values

Uncovering your core values is a research process, where you look for clues in your past to see what value motivated you to act in a certain way during key moments, or look at your interests to see what value could be the driving factor, or observing what energises you. Ideally you’ll drill them down to your top 5 most important values. Here is a process you can follow to do that.

You cannot create your own values. Values impose themselves on you independent of your will.

Jordan Peterson

If you get stuck during the process, this list can be used as a prompt.

I grouped the values into 24 loose themes to help you or your coaching client articulate and pinpoint the exact value they’re looking for.

You can also download the list as a PDF here, if you want to print it out.