Journaled Life

How to Discover and Create Your Values

Photo by Sean Stratton on Unsplash

Values are the core part of Who You Are. They affect the decisions you make, and how you feel about any outcome in your life.

To answer the question of what type of person you want to be to achieve your vision, you start with understanding your values.

What are Values

“Values are principles, standards or qualities that an individual (or group of people) hold in high regard. These values guide the way we live our lives and the decisions we make. A value may be defined as something that we hold dear, those things/qualities/ideas which we consider to be of worth.”
source: Nageswara Rao Posinasetti – University of Northern Iowa
Our values are the criteria we use consciously or unconsciously to evaluate our life. The more we are living according to our values the happier and more fulfilled we are.

Every choice we make in life either supports or opposes our values.

This can range from strongly supports to strongly opposes and everything in-between. When we understand our values, we can make decisions that maximize the support of our values. The more our life design supports our values, the more we feel as if we are living our ideal life, the life we were meant to live, our purpose. Living our values supplies us with energy and momentum to move us forward towards our vision.

List of Values

The following is an extensive list of values. Many people need to see the different values to understand what the values mean so the result is this list.

Abundance	Acceptance	Accessibility	Accomplishment	Accountability
Accuracy	Achievement	Acknowledgment	Activeness	Adaptability
Adoration	Adroitness	Advancement	Adventure	Affection
Affluence	Aggressiveness	Agility	Alertness	Altruism
Amazement	Ambition	Amusement	Anticipation	Appreciation
Approachability	Approval	Art	Articulacy	Artistry
Assertiveness	Assurance	Attentive	Attentiveness	Attractiveness
Audacity	Availability	Awareness	Awe	Balance
Beauty	Being the Best	Belonging	Benevolence	Bliss
Boldness	Bravery	Brilliance	Buoyancy	Calm
Calmness	Camaraderie	Candor	Capability	Capable
Care	Careful	Carefulness	Celebrity	Certainty
Challenge	Change	Charity	Charm	Chastity
Cheerfulness	Clarity	Cleanliness	Clear	Clear-mindedness
Clever	Cleverness	Closeness	Comfort	Commitment
Common Sense	Communication	Community	Compassion	Competence
Competition	Completion	Composure	Concentration	Conformity
Congruency	Connection	Consciousness	Conservation	Consistency
Contentment	Continuity	Contribution	Control	Conviction
Conviviality	Confidence	Coolness	Cooperation	Cordiality
Correctness	Country	Courage	Courtesy	Craftiness
Creation	Creativity	Credibility	Cunning	Curiosity
Daring	Decisive	Decisiveness	Decorum	Dedication
Deference	Delight	Dependability	Depth	Desire
Determination	Development	Devotion	Devoutness	Dexterity
Dignity	Diligence	Direction	Directness	Discipline
Discovery	Discretion	Diversity	Dominance	Dreaming
Drive	Duty	Dynamism	Eagerness	Ease
Economy	Ecstasy	Education	Effectiveness	Efficiency
Elation	Elegance	Empathy	Empower	Encouragement
Endurance	Energy	Enjoyment	Entertainment	Enthusiasm
Environmentalism	Equality	Ethical	Ethics	Euphoria
Excellence	Excitement	Exhilaration	Expectancy	Expediency
Experience	Expertise	Exploration	Expressive	Expressiveness
Extravagance	Extroversion	Exuberance	Fairness	Faith
Fame	Family	Famous	Fascination	Fashion
Fearless	Fearlessness	Feelings	Ferocious	Ferocity
Fidelity	Fierceness	Financial Independence	Firmness	Fitness
Flexibility	Flow	Fluency	Focus	Foresight
Fortitude	Frankness	Freedom	Friendliness	Friendship
Frugality	Fun	Gallantry	Generosity	Genius
Gentility	Giving	Goodness	Grace	Gratitude
Greatness	Gregariousness	Growth	Guidance	Happiness
Hard work	Harmony	Health	Heart	Helpfulness
Heroism	Holiness	Honesty	Honor	Hope
Hopefulness	Hospitality	Humility	Humor	Hygiene
Imagination	Impact	Impartiality	Improvement	Independence
Individuality	Industry	Ingenuity	Innovation	Inquisitive
Inquisitiveness	Insightful	Insightfulness	Inspiration	Inspiring
Integrity	Intellect	Intelligence	Intensity	Intimacy
Intrepidness	Introspection	Introversion	Intuition	Intuitive
Intuitiveness	Inventiveness	Investing	Involvement	Influence
Irreverent	Joy	Judiciousness	Justice	Keenness
Kindness	Knowledge	Lawful	Leadership	Learning
Liberation	Liberty	Lightness	Liveliness	Logic
Longevity	Love	Loyalty	Majesty	Making a Difference
Marriage	Mastery	Maturity	Meaning	Meekness
Mellowness	Meticulousness	Mindfulness	Moderation	Modesty
Motivation	Mysteriousness	Nature	Neatness	Nerve
Non-conformity	Obedience	Open-mindedness	Openness	Optimism
Order	Organization	Originality	Outdoors	Outlandishness
Outrageousness	Partnership	Passion	Patience	Peace
Perceptiveness	Perfection	Performance	Perkiness	Perseverance
Persistence	Persuasiveness	Philanthropy	Piety	Playfulness
Pleasantness	Pleasure	Poise	Polish	Popularity
Potency	Potential	Power	Practicality	Pragmatism
Precision	Preparedness	Presence	Present	Pride
Privacy	Proactivity	Productivity	Professionalism	Prosperity
Prudence	Punctuality	Purity	Purpose	Quality
Rationality	Realism	Realistic	Reason	Reasonableness
Recognition	Recreation	Refinement	Reflective	Relaxation
Reliability	Relief	Religiousness	Reputation	Resilience
Resolution	Resolve	Resourcefulness	Respect	Responsibility
Rest	Restraint	Results-Oriented	Reverence	Reflection
Richness	Rigor	Risk	Sacredness	Sacrifice
Sagacity	Saintliness	Sanguinity	Satisfaction	Science
Security	Self-Control	Self-reliance	Self-respect	Selfless
Selflessness	Sensitivity	Sensuality	Serenity	Service
Sexiness	Sexuality	Sharing	Shrewdness	Significance
Silence	Silliness	Simplicity	Sincerity	Skill
Skillfulness	Smart	Solidarity	Solitude	Sophistication
Soundness	Speed	Spirit	Spirituality	Spontaneity
Spontaneous	Spunk	Stability	Status	Stealth
Stewardship	Stillness	Strength	Structure	Success
Support	Supremacy	Surprise	Sustainability	Sympathy
Synergy	Talent	Teaching	Teamwork	Temperance
Thankful	Thankfulness	Thorough	Thoroughness	Thoughtful
Thoughtfulness	Thrift	Tidiness	Timeliness	Tolerance
Toughness	Traditional	Traditionalism	Tranquility	Transcendence
Transparency	Trust	Trustworthiness	Trustworthy	Truth
Understanding	Unflappability	Uniqueness	Unity	Usefulness
Utility	Valor	Variety	Victory	Vigor
Virtue	Vision	Vitality	Vivacity	Volunteering
Warm-Heartedness	Warmth	Watchfulness	Wealth	Welcoming
Willfulness	Willingness	Winning	Wisdom	Wittiness
Wonder	Worthiness	Youthfulness	Zeal

Discovering Your Values

The most effective way of determining your values is by journaling. Journaling gives you the opportunity to become aware of what you value, which reveals your values.

Awareness is a powerful thing. Journaling is a method of getting things out of your head and documented. This process requires you to formulate and organize your thoughts. Once in your journal, you will be more aware of who you are.

Asking yourself questions, journaling the answers, and reflecting on what you have written results in becoming aware of our values. Any question that results in you reflecting on what you think is valuable, important, and significant is a good question for determining your values.

Questions to determine your values

What qualities or aspects does an experience require for the experience to make you happy? Review the list of values to help spark your imagination.
What qualities or aspects does an experience require for the experience to make you proud? Review the list of values to help spark your imagination.
What qualities or aspects does an experience require for the experience to make you fulfilled? Review the list of values to help spark your imagination.
What are the values of someone you admire? Why do you admire them?
As a child what were you rewarded for? Hard work, creativity, interpersonal skills, etcetera.
What is your career? An entrepreneur is going to have different values than a neurosurgeon.
What do you spend money on? You potentially buy things or experiences for the value they satisfy.

You Can Choose Your Values

You can always choose your values.

You can choose to have values such as health, gratitude, fairness. These are all values that if they are incorporated into your life will make your life better.

Other values are deeply ingrained with who you are. Your social, family, friends, love values will be affected by how introverted or extroverted you are. When you are choosing these types of values you are choosing to foster and grow them.

Every value contains part of who you are. Some people value creativity and freedom because it allows who they really are to come out. Other people value achievement and striving because it is who they are.

Choosing and discovering your values go hand in hand.

Know Your Values

Some of your values may not have been your choice. You have the value because of family, upbringing, society, culture. These are the values that may potentially conflict with other values you have or values you don’t feel deeply. When you have conflicting values, you cannot have a fulfilled life because you will always be opposing one of your values.

This is why making a conscious effort to identify your values is so important. When we identify conflicting values, we can choose what we want to value. When we choose which values we have, we feel those values deep into the core of our being.

Once identified, values are relatively stable, changing slowly as you go through life and experience life’s events. School, kids, retirement, age are all different phases of our life and potentially will change what you value. Conversely, we may subconsciously change our values where we are not aware, we just have some inner push to make a big change in our lives. Understanding and knowing your values and how they change over time offers glimpses into the purpose of your life’s journey.

Having a strong sense of your values gives you the measurement to evaluate your life journey and to make good decisions on that path.

Make Value-Based Decisions

When you are aware of your values you will make better life decisions. You will create goals that are congruent with your values, that you can achieve with more energy because they are aligned with who you really want to be.

Your values create a framework for evaluating your life design. The more aware of your values, the more your life decisions will be congruent, the more you will feel you are living the life you were meant to live. Your values are a way of categorizing what is important to you at a deep level. The more our mission and vision support our values, the more motivation we have to live our values. One side supports the other.

Every decision should be evaluated against each of your values to see if the decision supports or opposes the value. Ideally, all your decisions should support your values.

Live a Values-Driven Life

Values are the criteria for measuring all aspects of your life design. The goal of a life design is to create a life you want, a life that you value. That value is determined by evaluating your life design against your values.

If you value freedom, you are going to evaluate the different aspects of your life design against the freedom that they create.

Values are the criteria for your ongoing life journey. All your life decisions should be evaluated based on your values. The direction you choose to go in life should maximize your values.

By living life in alignment with your values you will: