Self-Awareness of Values
See this tool in action
Overview: Self-Awareness of Values
Our values are the things in life which we believe are important to the way we live. When we are aware of what they are, they guide our actions and decisions on a day to day basis. Often we don’t actually choose our own values and tend to adopt the values of the people or society around us. But when we actively choose our values and then act or live in a way which matches them, we can feel more satisfied and content.
The Why
Identifying our values can help our mental fitness because they act as a compass to steer us in the right direction in our lives and in the decisions and choices we make. This can help reduce stress by ensuring that we are engaging with things that hold meaning for us.
Great for…
Exercise
Stop
Think about your values and see if they match your beliefs about how you want to live your life. Use the list provided to identify what values you feel are relevant and speak most powerfully to you.
Challenge
Now look at those identified values and ask yourself why these are your values. Are they relevant to you now? Do they mean something to you or have you adopted them from Society or from family and friends?
Change
If you feel that you want to identify different values or explore alternatives, follow the following steps:
- Identify times when you were most happy: where were you, who were you with, what contributed to your happiness?
- Identify a time when you were most proud: why were you proud, were you with others and what contributed to your pride?
- Identify a time when you were most fulfilled: what need was fulfilled? Why did it give you meaning and what contributed to your feelings of fulfilment?
- Using the list provided, pick your top 10 values based on the experiences you had when you were most proud, fulfilled and happy.
- Now you need to prioritise these to end up with your top 3 values. Think about each one and consider how each one sits with the next and compare the importance of each value to you. Do this until you have put them in rank order.
- Now consider those top 3 values. Do they still feel like they are the most important?
If they are, then these are the 3 values that you should use as your compass for the decisions and choices you make every day. Ask yourself if your decisions and choices reflect your values. If they don’t, then you need to consider what changes you should make.
List of Values
Accountability
Achievement
Adaptability
Adventure
Altruism
Ambition
Authenticity
Balance
Belonging
Career
Caring
Collaboration
Commitment
Community
Compassion
Competence
Confidence
Connection
Contentment
Contribution
Cooperation
Courage
Creativity
Dignity
Diversity
Efficiency
Equality
Ethics
Excellence
Fairness
Faith
Family
Financial stability
Forgiveness
Freedom
Friendship
Fun
Future generations
Generosity
Giving back
Gratitude
Growth
Health
Home
Honesty
Hope
Humility
Humour
Inclusion
Independence
Integrity
Initiative
Intuition
Job security
Joy
Justice
Kindness
Knowledge
Leadership
Learning
Legacy
Leisure
Love
Loyalty
Making a difference
Openness
Optimism
Order
Nature
Parenting
Patriotism
Patience
Peace
Perseverance
Personal fulfilment
Power
Pride
Recognition
Reliability
Respect
Resourcefulness
Responsibility
Risk-taking
Safety
Security
Self-discipline
Self-expression
Self-respect
Serenity
Service
Simplicity
Sportsmanship
Success
Time
Teamwork
Thoroughness
Thrift
Tradition
Travel
Trust
Truth
Understanding
Usefulness
Vision
Vulnerability
Wealth
Well-being
Wisdom