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Home » Blog » What Are Your Core Personal Values? How to Discover Them!

Your core personal value is the guiding principle of your life. They are select chosen values that you choose to abide by in order to fulfill your life purpose. But, in the sense of freely chosen values, do values really exist? 

Isn’t it true that human beings are led by hereditary instincts, instincts that we try to dress up with fancy terms like values to make it seem like we have some control over the process when it’s all built into our genes? Even if genetic impulses do not directly affect human behaviour, aren’t our personal values mostly dictated by our personalities, which are substantially shaped by our genes? It’s difficult to say whether our personalities are mostly determined by our genes, our childhood experiences, or a combination of the two. It  isn’t relevant for our purposes because personal opinions and personality traits are fundamentally different, not the same thing. Personal values are beliefs, not personality traits, and no matter how intertwined the two are, attempting to understand the former only in terms of the latter is certain to fail. 

So if personal values are freely chosen beliefs, then how do we get to them? How do we discover them? Read this blog to find out.

What are Your Core Personal Values? How to Discover Them!

Your true home is your core personal value, which is the center of your being. It is the culmination of all your efforts. Working from your core connects you to an internal council of advisors who acts as guides on the route to learning and self-mastery that you select. They can help you gain a better grasp of your own core as well as the core of your company. Your core personal value is a treasure store of information. It holds your special gifts for the world, your one-of-a-kind puzzle piece. Your own particular holograph of the whole is your core personal value.

What are Personal Values?

Personal values are desirable goals that motivate any individual and act as a guiding light in their lives. They are unique to every individual. This means that my personal values may be different from yours because my motivating factor is not the same as yours. These differences, if noticed, are majorly influenced by our culture, our upbringing, our experiences, and many other factors. For example, my core personal value is gratitude but maybe yours is something else.

They are the characteristics and behaviors that guide us. For example, your core personal value is gratitude. So you believe in thanking others for their actions. Then gratitude becomes your motivating factor, and you try to live in a way to thank people and when you are not able to, you feel disappointed.

It is not necessary that one individual has only one core value. Many core values can exist simultaneously in our lives but the values that are most important guide your major decisions like career, family, friends.

So, now that we know what personal values are, how do we discover them? 

How to Discover Your Personal Values?

Take a moment and think for a second. How do you come to believe anything? Ask yourself how do you know that the earth is round, the sky is blue, or that your eyes are brown? How do you know this? If you reflect carefully, you will notice that there are only a very few ways that we “know” anything. 

We know that the earth is round due to scientific experiments. For the colour of the sky and our eyes, we rely on our observation (direct sensory experience), and so on. It ultimately becomes evident that there are only six ways in which we can “believe” or “know” anything, and they are as follows which define how we form and choose values, as well as how we think about things in general:

  • Authority
  • Sensory experience
  • Deductive logic
  • Intuition
  • Emotion 
  • Science

How to Define Your Personal Value?

Reflect

Begin the process by doing some reflection. Go through a list of values and reflect. The key is to understand that you are not there on the list to choose from them but rather to make sure you get ideas regarding the things in life that others consider a value. If not all, some will definitely resonate with you.

You can take some time off to think of the moments in your life that have some meaning or are the highlight of your life. Next, think of a moment that was not fulfilling, was rather disappointing. Now try to chalk out in the happy moments who were you therewith, what were you doing, and if there are frustrating moments, what was the cause of your disappointment or what values were being suppressed. Once you know this, then only you will be able to understand what gives you fulfillment, was it being generous? Was it an adventure?

Once you identify these values, note them down.

Group

Now start grouping those values. For example, if you noted honesty, loyalty and gratitude were your personal values, club them up together to create a core value of human relationships. You may have more values, start to consolidate them all, and create a fresh list.

Rank

The next step is to rank these core values. Pick out those values that matter to you the most, that shape your life the most. Wait for a few days and then come back to the list to check if the rankings you gave are still the same, or if you feel like changing them.

Treat this list as your life document or maybe a manual even. While some of your values may be quite consistent with who you are right now, they may change throughout time. Always make sure that your principles feel distinctive and distinct to your persona. 

This list is not consistent. It might change with time. So make sure every month, you review the list that you had established and grade yourself on how well you’re honouring each value on a daily basis to verify that you’re living in line with your personal fundamental values. Consider some modifications you may make to boost your level of satisfaction with one of your values if it has been declining over time. Make a list of actions that will bring you closer to living in accordance with your values.

List of Personal Values

To help you define your personal value, here is a list of personal values:

  1. Love
  2. Peace
  3. Creativity
  4. Kindness
  5. Gratitude
  6. Learning
  7. Power
  8. Security
  9. Authenticity
  10. Compassion
  11. Work-Life Balance
  12. Consistency
  13. Courage
  14. Reliability
  15. Fearlessness 
  16. A sense of humour
  17. Dependability
  18. Determination
  19. Friendship
  20. Health
  21. Honesty
  22. Independence
  23. Positivity
  24. Loyalty
  25. Open-mindedness
  26. Optimism
  27. Perseverance
  28. Respect
  29. Simplicity
  30. Sincerity

This is not the end of the list. The list goes on. The idea is to create your own list based on your beliefs and your experiences. Use these examples of personal values to identify your own.

10 Personal Values of Life That You Should Live By: Schwartz Theory of Values

In 1992, Schwartz proposed 10 motivationally diverse categories of values, which are mentioned below. These qualities have been investigated in a number of nations and shown to be universal in cross-cultural applications.

  1. Self-direction is the ability to think and act independently—to choose, create, and explore.
  2. Stimulation is excitement, novelty, and a challenge.
  3. Hedonism is defined as the pursuit of pleasure or sensual fulfilment for oneself.
  4. Personal achievement achieved by exhibiting competence in accordance with social norms.
  5. Power is supremacy over people and resources, as well as social position and reputation.
  6. Security refers to the safety, harmony, and consistency of society, relationships, and one’s own self.
  7. Conformity is defined as the control of acts, inclinations, and impulses that are likely to irritate or injure others, as well as to breach societal standards or norms.
  8. Tradition is respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs and ideas that one’s culture or religion provides.
  9. Benevolence is defined as the act of protecting and promoting the well-being of individuals with whom one has a regular intimate touch.
  10. Universalism is understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all people and for nature.

According to a study, a value will usually fall into one of these ten categories. There is no such thing as an ideal values, and everyone will have their own list of values, each with its own level of importance.

The important point to understand is that there is no fixed list that can tell you these are the 10 personal values of life that you should live by. But all the values that you have fall in one of these 10 values given by Schwartz. 

Values, as opposed to attitudes, beliefs, standards, and attributes, are a significant, notably central component of our self and personality. Values play an important role in motivating behaviours and attitudes.

So make sure you discover your personal values that you live by, especially your core personal value.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are core personal values?

Personal values are attainable goals that encourage people and serve as a compass in their lives. They are one-of-a-kind for each person. This indicates that my own values may differ from yours due to the fact that my driving factor differs from yours. If you notice any disparities, it’s because of our culture, upbringing, experiences, and a variety of other variables.

How to discover your personal value?

Only six ways describe how we create and choose values, as well as how we think about things in general, and these are the ones that define how we form and choose values, as well as how we think about things in general:

  • Authority
  • Sense experience
  • Deductive logic
  • Intuition
  • Emotion 
  • Science

How to define your personal value?

Steps to define your personal values are:


  • Reflect
  • Group
  • Rank

Give a list of personal values?

To help you define your personal value, here is a list of personal values:

  1. Love
  2. Peace
  3. Creativity
  4. Kindness
  5. Gratitude
  6. Learning
  7. Power
  8. Security
  9. Authenticity
  10. Compassion

What are the 10 personal values of life that you should live by?

10 personal values of life that you should live by are as follows:

  1. Self-direction 
  2. Stimulation
  3. Hedonism
  4. Power
  5. Security
  6. Conformity
  7. Tradition
  8. Benevolence
  9. Universalism
  10. Personal Achievement