100 Personal Core Values Examples & Their Importance To Living Life Authentically To You
You’re likely at this part of your journey where you hear about personal core values thinking you know what they are. Upon deeper thought, however, you realise you’re not so sure.
You’re not alone—we’ve all been there.
But then the overwhelming thoughts seep in.
What are they? Why do they matter? How does this even help me? As if there isn’t already so much we are told we “need” or “should” do.
Here is when we pause. And before we step further into the ever-evolving space that is our lives and sense of self, we must first sit still.
Remember why you’re reading this in the first place.
You are here to learn more, isn’t that so?
You are here because you care about your well-being, and there has got to be a different way to feel more connected, authentic and whole.
This is your first step to discovering and understanding your personal core values.
So, now that we’ve remembered our why, let’s dive into the parts informing our decisions hereafter:
What are personal core values?
Core values are beliefs or principles, used to inform or guide your decisions and actions, that you view as having central importance.
These differ between individuals, hence the main focus of this post: to define personal core values, because they are just that—personal.
Core values apply not just to us as individuals, but to businesses, organizations, teams, etc. The same premise applies across the board: they are beliefs or principles of central importance that guide us.
This can sound wishy-washy to begin with. Believe me, this is what I first felt too.
It took a lot of intentional learning and applying before it made sense or a palpable change. But that’s okay!
It isn’t until you learn its relevance, role and impact on your own life that the pieces come together.
That’s part of this whole journey of ours anyway.
It’s normal to be apprehensive at first. It is part of your curiosity to change something you’re so protective about—your sense of self and life.
So, good on you for finding out more in the first place.
Why are values important?
Our personal core values are important because they represent what we truly believe in.
They make up who we are in this particular season of life, and guide our decisions and actions to align us with our true selves.
Notice how I said ‘particular season of life’? This is because your values change as you do.
And that’s a good thing!
You should not be bound by what no longer serves you and your authenticity.
You were always made to grow, just like every other aspect of your life, and your values are no exception.
As humans, we each have our own opinions on varying topics and our own ways of acting. These opinions and actions actually reflect what we value (i.e., what we care about most), though this is subconscious a lot of the time.
This is why the act of intentionally aligning your actions with your personal core values is important (more on that later).
Whether we are aware of this or not, they are the basis of how we interpret the world, act in it and, in turn, how this affects our lives.
How values affect our lives
By aligning our actions and decisions with our values, we can:
Increase feelings of fulfillment
Increase our capacity (e.g., energy, time, money, etc.)
Decrease feelings of shame, anxiety, and negative emotion
Increase our confidence and intentionality
How is this so?
Your values—in any area of life—help you decide on where and when to allocate any of your finite resources: your time, energy, and money.
What it really comes down to is what you’re willing to spend your finite resources on, which all impact your overall well-being and sense of self.
Where you don’t pay in one, you will pay in another.
Your values guide which one you choose and ultimately affect how you feel and act.
And that is the very essence of your values—guide posts for feeling your safest, most peaceful, most content, and most authentic.
This can apply to any area of life.
Example: our wedding planning
This was an instance where mine and my husband’s values led our decision-making without us even really knowing it.
For instance, we ensured that most of our decor could be: reused, recycled, or repurposed.
Why? Because we couldn’t bear the thought of spending all that money on decor (fresh flowers, for example) for the one day. We wanted at least some of the decor as keepsakes.
We got dried flowers instead, so that I could keep mine (peep the photo below!) for more than just a day, and so could our bridesmaids.
Our guests also took the table flowers home as ‘wedding favours’ with other decor we had.
Here, we valued our finances and being able to double things as pieces for our wedding day and keepsakes. So we chose decor that could achieve just that. Without doing so, we were risking our peace of mind and fulfilment on our wedding day for something that was not aligned with us.
This example shows that:
When we align our actions and decisions with our values, we feel most content, at peace, and fulfilled;
Our personal core values (or those shared with a partner) are guide posts for your decisions, actions and finite resources, and therefore affect how you feel; and
What matters most is that it is important to you and your wellbeing.
When our decisions and actions are not aligned with what is important to us or our personal core values, we find ourselves soaked in feelings akin to misalignment, such as anxiety, shame, guilt, and regret.
As mentioned earlier, this is why being intentional about our decisions and actions is key here.
Because we are worth more than not being intentional. In fact, our very being and finite resources depend on us being intentional.
Otherwise, you risk living your life to the standards of others, depleting your valuable time, energy and money for something of no meaning to you, and never truly honouring what makes you you.
So, where to from here?
You’re likely already thinking of your own examples and are now more equipped with greater intention.
The next steps will be actually identifying your personal core values.
Below are 100 examples to get you thinking, which are also available in the next blog post in our Values-Based Living Blog Post Series.
It can be useful to start with the steps at the end of this post when first identifying your values, if you’re still unsure of where they stand for you.
100 Personal Core Values Examples
How to start identifying your personal core values now
Your personal core values, to wrap it all up, are your guiding posts to assist you in aligning your decisions and actions with what you actually care about, and therefore help you live a life authentic to you.
Little Tips to start now:
Write this all down using any method of your preference (I like to physically journal)
Know your why for understanding your personal values to begin with, even write it down
Make sure you understand why your values are important
Start thinking about the areas of life that mean the most to you (e.g., family, experiences, travel, career, etc.)
Flick your eyes over the list of examples and see if any catch your eye or resonate with you among the areas of life most important to you
Just remember that there are plenty more out there that you can search for if the list doesn’t quite capture what really resonates with you.
That’s the beauty of all of this, anyway—it is authentic to you.
Something we are so passionate about at Little Lydia is learning, trying, and applying different things to adapt to the season of life you are currently in.
We encourage you to gather different sources and methods to collate what you might want to experiment with for your own authenticity. We are big fans of picking and choosing from different sources to tailor what suits our true selves.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us here! We are more than happy to help you have more freedom to focus on what truly matters!
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