What Are Your Personal Core Values?

And why is this important?

Photo by Christopher Burns on Unsplash

Many people talk about getting clear on your values or using values as a guide in your life, but perhaps you aren’t clear what values are anyway? And why are they important?

Values are the individual beliefs that people hold and the things that people deeply feel are important in their lives. These beliefs are the underlying motivations for how people act and behave. We can also define values as the preferences in your life. We create them throughout our lives, starting in early childhood.

Values vary between individuals, but there are common and shared values that occur within a family, culture, group or country. One example of a shared value is ‘patriotism’ common within a country. Many family members share similar values because of their upbringing.

Everyone has values, some people just are more aware of what their values are than others. Being aware of what your most important values are — your core values — provides a valuable guide for living a life that feels meaningful and can greatly help with decision making.