PERSONAL VALUES

Personal values are things that are important to us. They are what motivates our own characteristics and behaviors, and they are what guides our decision making. Each person needs to be able to know what their core personal values are. Do you value honestly? Integrity? Loyalty? Learning about your own values offers you the ability to apply the values in your everyday life.

How can I Discover my Personal Values?

• Try this interactive Value Sorter to help you determine what values are most important to you!
• A list of 200 Core Personal Values to Discover What is Most Important to You
• VIA Character Strengths Survey – Used with Wellness Coaching

What Values Do I Live By?

• Health: By putting a value on your own health, whether that be physical, mental, or emotional, you are taking a step to putting yourself first. This means eating right, sleeping enough, exercising, and stay true to your own needs. It also means that you’re making yourself a priority.
• Learn for the Sake of Learning: If you are learning concepts and ideas only to pass a class rather than to gain knowledge, you are doing a disservice to yourself and your education. Learning for the sake of learning, or for the sake of gaining something from what you’re learning, is a much better approach. You should take your education seriously and should value the knowledge you’re paying thousands of dollars to learn.
• Be Focused, but Flexible: It’s good to aim for goals and be persistent towards trying to achieve them, however, sometimes it’s good to take a step back and realize that things change and things don’t always go to plan. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, but instead be flexible in your goals and your methods of achieving them.
• Keep it Balanced: Balancing your life means that you are making time for yourself, fun activities, and work or school. If you’re spending too much time on either one of these areas, you’ll start to notice problems developing in your life. Too much time on work and school can leave you feeling fatigued, burnt out, or overwhelmed. Spending too much time with friends or on fun activities may lead to bad grades, bad performance at work, and inability to reach your long term goals.
• Everyone is Equal: Everyone is equally deserving of respect and fair treatment. Even if someone has vastly different opinions and beliefs than you, you should still respect them even if you don’t agree with them.
• Taking Risks: Getting out of your comfort zone is hard and may be scary at first, however, if you don’t learn to take risks, you’ll stay stagnant. You never know until you try!
• Honesty: If you value honesty in your relationships with your friends, family, or significant other, you need to make sure you’re also being honest and truthful with them.
• Empathy: Having empathy means that you’re able to put yourself in another person’s shoes. This is an important value because it helps you connect and understand another person on a deeper level. It also helps you to act more compassionate towards that person because you know where they’re coming from.

Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave them all over everything you do! – Elvis Presley