Most of us operate in our daily lives based on our to-do lists or things that need to get done. But deeper, we have a set of core values that drive what we do.
In this article, we’ll clarify what core values are, give you a list of all the key values, and offer you a step-by-step process to finding your core values for your personal life, professional life, and relationships.
Watch our video below to discover your core values:
What Are Core Values?
Core values are an individual or organization’s fundamental beliefs and highest priorities that drive their behavior.
You can think of core values as an internal compass of principles that drive a person’s or organization’s decisions.
It’s wonderful to identify the core values driving you and try to unlock the core values driving the important people in your life.
Defining your personal values can help shape who you are and what you do. When faced with certain decisions, you can refer back to core values to ensure that you act according to what truly matters to you.
From the outside, people often perceive core values as your character or morality. These beliefs dig down to the very root of our identity and steer us in the direction that feels aligned with who we truly are.
If you feel stuck trying to figure out what is best for you, honing in on your core values could help you:
- Feel more confident in your decisions
- Listen to your intuition or “gut feeling”
- Have more conviction in your daily life
- Define your version of success
- Make choices that match your overall vision
Your values are ultimately what drive your identity and your decisions.
What is An Example of a Core Value?
Integrity, kindness, honesty, and financial security are typical examples of personal core values. Others often see these values as your character traits. For example, someone who is known for always doing the right thing likely values integrity.
Suppose you have a core value of freedom. In that case, you might avoid traditional work and instead work as an entrepreneur–even if this means working longer hours and having more financial uncertainty.
Another common example relates to money. Pretend that your close friend has a fancy car. When you ride in the car with them, you think, “Wow, someday I am going to buy myself one of these!”
But when you get home, remember that you genuinely value financial security for your family more than flashy material items. Even if you had the money to buy that car, you wouldn’t do it because it doesn’t align with your deeper principles about life.
Master Core Values List
As proven, personal values affect nearly every decision you make, from your relationships to your profession to the things you buy. While your childhood may have engrained some values in you, your thoughts and actions can also consciously form others. Scientists have found that unconscious beliefs impact our actions.
Use these master lists of values to narrow down what matters most to you. We’ve included personal values, relationship values, work values, ethical values, and community values.
List of Core Values in Work
Certain principles guide the type of work you pursue, whether you’re an entrepreneur, employee, or freelancer. Defining your company’s core values can shape your core mission behind selling products or services. They define why and how they conduct business. On a personal level, these values help you determine the broader vision of your career and your daily performance in the workplace.
- Accountability
- Achievement
- Adaptability
- Business Acumen
- Charisma
- Coaching
- Collaboration
- Consistency
- Constructive Criticism
- Credibility
- Customer Focus
- Dedication to the Excellence
- Dependability
- Diversity
- Dynamic Responses
- Encouragement
- Enjoyment
- Enthusiasm
- Entrepreneurship
- Ethical Leadership
- Expertise Development
- Fame
- Fast Pace
- Feedback
- Focus
- Growth Mindset
- Hard Work Ethic
- Imagination
- Ingenuity
- Initiative
- Innovation
- Leadership
- Learning From Mistakes
- Management
- Mentorship
- Operational Effectiveness
- Organization
- Persistence
- Positive Impact
- Power
- Problem-Solving
- Professional Growth
- Professional Integrity
- Professionalism
- Profit
- Punctuality
- Quality
- Resilience
- Resourcefulness
- Responsibility
- Self-Development
- Self-Motivation
- Service to Others
- Skill Mastery
- Strategic Vision
- Thinking outside the box
- Tidiness
- Timeliness
- Trial and Error
- Versatility
- Work Ethos
- Work Smarter, Not Harder
- Work-Life Balance
List of Personal Core Values for Life
Whether you’re setting financial goals or taking a big step in your family life, knowing your values will ensure that each decision fits your overall mission. These values are specific to your personal life:
- Adventure
- Alone Time
- Altruism
- Animal Rights
- Anti-Racism
- Artistry
- Awareness
- Balance
- Change the World
- Chasing Your Dreams
- Cleverness
- Comedy
- Community
- Conformity
- Consciousness
- Contentment
- Creativity
- Curiosity
- Entertainment
- Environmental Protection
- Exhilaration
- Existential Wisdom
- Experiential Learning
- Experimentation
- Exploration
- Extraordinary Experiences
- Family First
- Financial Security
- Finesse
- Free Time
- Freedom
- Friendship
- Going with the Flow
- Happiness
- Health and Fitness
- Holistic Well-being
- Implementation
- Inner Truth
- Inspire Others
- Laughter
- Leisure
- Life Exploration
- Life Purpose
- Lifelong Adventure
- Liveliness
- Modesty
- Natural Living
- Non-Conformity
- Non-Violence
- Novelty
- Open-Mindedness
- Originality
- Peace of Mind
- Personal Development
- Personal Expression
- Personal Fulfillment
- Personal Legacy
- Positive Attitude
- Pride in Your Work
- Protecting Others
- Reliability
- Religion
- Respect
- Righteousness
- Saving Money
- Self-Control
- Self-Discipline
- Self-Preservation
- Social Justice
- Socializing
- Spiritual Growth
- Spontaneity
- Strength
- This Too Shall Pass
- Travel
- Trust Your Gut
- Understanding
- Vivaciousness
- Wellness
- Wit
One of the best ways to know if you’ve set the right goals for yourself is if they match your personal values. This ensures that you are building a life around who you want to be.
If you’d like more tips on how to set the right goals, you might enjoy this free training.
How To Set Better Goals Using Science
Do you set the same goals over and over again? If you’re not achieving your goals – it’s not your fault!
Let me show you the science-based goal-setting framework to help you achieve your biggest goals.
List of Core Values in Relationships
Relationships are scientifically proven to improve our happiness, health, and longevity. However, a happy relationship must be founded on similar values for two people to thrive together. Use these values to define what is most important to you in a friend or significant other.
- Affection
- Appreciation
- Boundaries
- Clear Communication
- Commitment
- Confidence
- Cooperation
- Competitiveness
- Dedication
- Deep Connections
- Emotional Intelligence
- Emotional Support
- Equal Relationship
- Faithfulness
- Fidelity
- Forgiveness
- Generosity
- Gentleness
- Gift-Giving
- Harmonious Living
- Heartfelt Connection
- Intimacy
- Listening
- Loyal Companionship
- Mutual Respect
- Mutual Support
- Nurturing Nature
- Passion
- Patience
- Playfulness
- Quality Time
- Reciprocity
- Romance
- Romantic Devotion
- Shared Values
- Showing Appreciation
- Silliness
- Soulful Bonding
- Stability
- Support
- Sweetness
- Symbiosis
- Thoughtfulness
- Traditional Gender Roles
- Transparency
- Trustworthiness
- Unconditional Love
- Vulnerability
- Warmth
If you’re not sure, this article can also help you get a sense of the types of love languages you value in your relationships.
List of Ethical Core Values
Biologists have found that the capacity for morality separates humans from animals. Animals cannot differentiate between right and wrong, but humans have the power to use their core values to make moral judgments. To do so, each individual must decide what they value most in life. Here are the most fundamental ethics that people identify with:
- Abundance
- Acceptance
- Accuracy
- Autonomy
- Beauty
- Bliss
- Boldness
- Bravery
- Calmness
- Capitalism
- Change
- Charity
- Clarity
- Cleanliness
- Compassion
- Conscientiousness
- Courage
- Decisiveness
- Efficiency
- Ethical Awareness
- Fairness
- Faith
- Friendliness
- Fun
- Goodness
- Gracefulness
- Gratitude
- Honesty
- Honor
- Honorable Conduct
- Hope
- Humility
- Humor
- Independence
- Influence
- Insightfulness
- Integrity
- Intuition
- Joy
- Justice
- Kindness
- Knowledge
- Lawfulness
- Moral Courage
- Nobility
- Openness
- Optimism
- Peacefulness
- Principled
- Promise-keeping
- Prosperity
- Prudence
- Rectitude
- Respect
- Righteousness
- Self-love
- Selflessness
- Sincerity
- Spirituality
- Success
- Veracity
- Virtuousness
- Wealth
- Wisdom
List of Community and Social Core Values
If you are a community builder of any kind, then it’s important to think about what values will bind your community together. Take inspiration from this list!
- Accessibility
- Caring
- Civic Engagement
- Civic Pride
- Collective Well-being
- Communal Prosperity
- Community Activism
- Community Resilience
- Connection
- Consent
- Conservation
- Cultural Harmony
- Dialogue
- Dignity
- Empathy
- Empowerment
- Engagement
- Equality
- Flexibility
- Grassroots Empowerment
- Growth
- Harmony
- Heritage
- Inclusive Policies
- Inclusivity
- Inspiration
- Love of Learning
- Neighborly Support
- Participation
- Pro-activity
- Safety
- Social Cohesion
- Social Responsibility
- Solidarity
- Stewardship
- Sustainability
- Synergy
- Teamwork
- Tolerance
- Tradition
- Unity
- Vitality
- Volunteerism
- Welcoming
How Do I Identify My Core Values?
Making a list of your core values can help you determine who and what you want in your life. When your path becomes unclear, or you face a challenging situation, you can refer back to your core values and ask, “Is this truly aligned with who I am?”
Your list of core values ultimately answers the question: What do I value most in this world?
To figure out your “true north,” try the CORE value exercise:
- Contemplation: Go somewhere quiet, such as a meditative space or a natural area where you can reflect in silence. Turn off your phone and bring a notebook so you can focus. Begin by jotting down random things that come to mind when you ask yourself, “What do I value most in life?”
- Openness: On the next page, journal or reflect for a moment on the topic of authenticity.
Ask yourself, “When do I feel most like myself?” Is it when you’re with certain people or doing certain things? Certain memories might come up when you really felt like yourself.
You should also reflect on when you feel unaligned with yourself. What feelings are triggered in certain situations that make you betray or act differently to fit in? Be honest with yourself and dig into the underlying motivations behind that self-betrayal. Embracing your authentic self is a strong representation of your core values.
- Respect: Think about who you admire and respect most in this world. Perhaps it’s a parent, an author, or a celebrity public figure. Write down the names of 3 people you highly respect. Then, jot down words next to their names that describe why you look up to them.
For example, if you highly respect Denzel Washington, it may be because he gives back to his community and stays humble despite his fame. These are key clues that you value generosity and humility.
- Excitement: Think about what most inspires you to take action. Are you motivated by the excitement of earning enough money to help your parents buy a house to retire in? Or do you feel more inspired by the idea of having your work affect the lives of as many people as possible? Expressing your inner drive can help you tap into what pushes you forward. Is it money, fame, security, impact, charity, or something else?
Once you complete the exercise, grab a highlighter and circle the top 5 core values that feel most aligned with who you are.
Then, rank your values from 1-5, where 1 is the most important.
And lastly, write a short sentence on what each value means to you.
Make a wallet card, phone wallpaper, or other reminder that you can regularly see to guide you in tough decisions.
How to Use Core Values in Your Job Search Process
When you bring your core values into your job search, you increase the likelihood that you’ll find a role that resonates with your deepest beliefs and aspirations. The ideal is to find a workplace that feels like home, where your values aren’t just accepted but celebrated.
And when you bring your values into your application, you are signaling to employers that you’re more than just competent; you are a great match for the company culture.
Here are a few tips to think about.
1) Incorporate core values into your resume.
Adding your core values to your resume can give potential employers a glimpse into who you are beyond your skills and experience.
2) Align your core values with your prospective employers during the job search.
When looking for a job, make sure to scan through each potential employer’s value list.
You don’t need to match values 100%. But if, for example, “work-life balance” is a huge value of yours, and a company has a core value of “working around the clock,” then this may be a sign that this company isn’t a value fit.
3) Discuss core values during interviews to make a meaningful impression.
When applying for a company, look at their values page. Or if they don’t have one, try to ascertain their top 5 values from their mission statement and vision statement.
Then, think about which of their values you also hold dear. Prepare to speak to those values during your interview.
Do Values Come From Choice of Upbringing?
Many values may be engrained in you from your upbringing, while others may have established on your own. Values become especially evident when you meet someone raised entirely different from you.
For example, someone raised to value family traditions may always eat dinner around the table. On the other hand, a family who values sports and entertainment may spend their evenings and holidays eating dinner on the couch.
Similarly, a person raised to value charity may donate their extra money to a charitable cause. In contrast, someone who values frugality and financial independence may think putting their extra money in a savings account is best.
Someone who values beauty will spend their money on clothing or makeup, while someone who values health will budget more for fresh food and supplements. You get the idea.
How to Understand Someone Else’s Core Values
To understand someone’s core values, you can also look at how they make big life decisions.
For example, a person who values freedom and adventure probably spends much of their time and money on travel. Maybe they decide not to have children or buy a house because they prefer to live as a digital nomad traveling the world.
However, someone who deeply values stability, security, and routine will craft their life differently. They may want to settle down, get married, and raise children in a nice neighborhood while working a corporate job. While they may vacation, they are less likely to make radical or spontaneous travel decisions like the example above.
This all comes down to what people want most out of life. None of these examples are right or wrong. Instead, they illuminate how different values play out in people’s daily decisions. Each person will follow their unique path based on their core values.
Corporate Core Values
Companies also use core values. For a company, core values usually go alongside a mission statement and a vision statement. They serve as pillars for the company culture and help align the company toward its goals.
For example, Meta’s core values are:
- Move fast
- Focus on long-term impact
- Build awesome things
- Live in the future
- Be direct and respect your colleagues
- Meta, metamates, me (which refers to employees commitment to the company and each other)
When you read through these core values, you might see that they fit your perception of what Meta is trying to do: create rapid growth in technology.
As another example, here are YouTube’s core values:
- Freedom of Expression
- Freedom of Information
- Freedom of Opportunity (for creators)
- Freedom to Belong
These are very different than Meta’s values. But they seem to fit YouTube reasonably well. YouTube is a place where information is everywhere, there’s tons of expression, people find communities, and anyone can put up a video.
As one last example, let’s look at Ben and Jerry’s. Despite being an ice cream company, their core values are:
- Human Rights & Dignity
- Social & Economic Justice
- Environmental Protection, Restoration, & Regeneration
Very different from Meta and YouTube! But you can imagine that working at Ben and Jerry’s would be much more oriented toward activism.
If you work at a company, how can you use your core values to shape your company culture?
Core Values Frequently Asked Questions
Why are core values important?
Core values are the guiding principles that define your identity and your choices. They help you determine which people, things, goals, and decisions align with your true self. At the deepest level, knowing your core values prevents you from betraying yourself in pursuit of temporary or futile distractions. Values give you a firm footing in your beliefs and a solid internal compass to gauge your decision-making.
Can core values be changed?
Core values are at the root of who you are, but that doesn’t mean they are entirely unchangeable. Drastic personal transformation or unsettling changes in one’s life can warrant reevaluating your established values. However, changing those values may require deep self-reflection, personal growth, and daily practice to rewire old habits.
Can core values be negative?
Some people have negative core beliefs about themselves and others. For example, they may fundamentally believe, “I am not good enough,” “the world is dangerous,” or “all men/women are bad.” They may also have negative values that make them believe lying, cheating, or stealing are OK. When these values become engrained in someone’s psyche, it can lead to all sorts of problems in their life. However, personal development and shifting your priorities in life can help you change your values to be more aligned with the best version of yourself.
Can culture influence core values?
Yes, culture can significantly influence core values, as cultural norms and practices often shape an individual’s beliefs and priorities. The values promoted by a person’s cultural background can deeply impact their personal value system.
Why are core values pivotal in personal development?
Core values are pivotal in personal development because they provide a foundational framework for decision-making and behavior. They guide personal growth and help individuals align their actions with their beliefs and goals.
Can core values change over time?
Yes, core values can change over time as individuals encounter new experiences, challenges, and perspectives. Life events and personal growth often lead to the evolution or refinement of one’s core values.
Key Takeaways: Core Values are Your North Star in Life
Sometimes the broad vision for your life can be clouded by temptations or distractions. Without clear values, it can feel like navigating through a dark, stormy sea. You have no moral grounds where you can firmly root your feet as you make decisions regarding your relationships, career, and life goals.
Defining your core values is essential for guiding you through uncertain times. Deep down, you probably already know what you value, but putting it into words can help give you even more clarity as you move forward.
Use the CORE value exercise to find your “true north”:
- Contemplation: Go somewhere quiet to reflect on what you value most in life. Take mental notes or jot down your thoughts in a notebook.
- Openness: Ask yourself— When do you feel the most open to being your authentic self? What people or situations make you feel alive? Alternatively, when do you feel drained?
- Respect: Think about who you admire the most and why. This can clue you into particular values you may share with people you look up to.
- Excitement: Reflect on what makes you feel the most inspired. What pushes you to move forward? Is it impact, fame, fortune, charity, family, or all of the above?
At the end of the exercise, narrow down your 3-5 most important core values and keep them in mind as you move through life. Notice when you are in alignment with your values versus when you are betraying your core. Ultimately, understanding what people value is the secret to mastering people skills and succeeding in business or life. Find your “value language” in this guide to the 10 Value Languages That Will Help You Understand People Better.