Living by core values – the importance of strong personal values

Living a life in line with your personal values is an essential foundation for success in both your professional and personal life. Having a clear sense of your values can be an incredibly powerful tool for making good decisions, achieving goals, and finding creative solutions to problems. We all know what we appreciate in life; however, not many of us can articulate our unique set of core values that underpin this! Identifying and understanding what you stand for and why can help to alleviate deep-seated unhappiness and internal conflict that you could never identify the cause of. This process can make you more confident, less influenced by external pressures and feel more at peace with your decisions and actions.

Continue below to learn more about core values and how living by yours can improve your wellbeing.

What are core or personal values?

Core values are the fundamental beliefs of a person or an organisation.

Personal values are another name for the core values of an individual. They are the beliefs that guide a person’s behaviour and attitude and can help determine how an individual interacts with others, approaches tasks, and makes decisions. Values are not necessarily static things; people may have different values at specific points in their lives or even from week to week.

External factors like family, culture, media, and religion can affect which values someone holds, but personal experiences ultimately shape them.

Strong core personal values mean knowing what is important to you and what you stand for in internal dialogue and external action.

Benefits of maintaining strong personal values

Personal values provide guidance, direction, and purpose as they shape behaviour. They allow continual focus on the things necessary for happiness – family, health, societal and career goals, for example. Living by your unique combination of values leads to numerous benefits that can help make your life more meaningful and rewarding, whilst becoming disconnected from them can adversely affect mental health and overall wellbeing.

Furthermore, strong core beliefs allow individuals to make decisions based on principles rather than being swayed by external pressures or influences such as fear or guilt. It also helps people develop a sense of self-respect and respect for others when making decisions affecting those around them.

Having a solid understanding of your core values can help you with the following:

• Knowing your purpose
• Guiding your behaviour
• Making decisions
• Choosing a career
• Choosing friends and life partners
• Increasing self-esteem and confidence
• Greater emotional stability

Signs you may be disconnected from your values

Living by your core values is essential for having a fulfilled and meaningful life. It helps us to know how to act to maintain our integrity. But sometimes, a disconnect from those values can occur without being noticed. So how do you know if you’re out of touch with your values? The odds are that you already feel like something is wrong. Look out for these tell-tale signs:

• Do you feel uncomfortable about the decisions you make?
• Do you often make decisions you don’t believe in but think you should make?
• Does it feel like something isn’t quite right even though the situation may seem successful on the surface?
• Are there particular goals that you pursue despite feeling uncomfortable or unhappy about them?
• Do you feel sad and disconnected from yourself or your life?
• Do you feel as though something is missing?
• Have you changed your outlook because of fear or pressure from others?
• Do you use others as a blueprint for what you do rather than making independent choices?

These are all indicators that you may be drifting away from the life path that reflects who you want to be. Your values are a core part of who you are, so dismissing them can have a massive effect on your self-esteem, happiness and wellbeing.

Identifying your core values

Identifying your core values is a self-discovery process requiring introspection and honest reflection on what matters to you. This journey is unique for everyone, and not every activity will be relevant to you; however, here are some examples of things you can do to determine which values connect with you the most.

Brainstorming

An excellent place to start is to sit and think. Often our values are things we’re familiar with but don’t necessarily recognise as crucial to us. To get started, list the things you feel are essential in your life. This can be anything; there are no wrong answers! Try thinking about who you want to be, how you interact with others, and what you want the world to be. Think about who and what is most important to you, and write down some prompts and reminders to help you as you move to the next activity.

Check a list for inspiration

If you’re having trouble getting started or want more ideas after brainstorming, read through a prepared list of common values. Choose values directly from the list that you feel are important, or use the list as inspiration for adding your own. No list of values is exhaustive, but they can form a good starting point for reflection. This list of Examples of Common Core Values is an excellent place to start!

Self-quiz and reflection on the past

You may find it helpful to ask yourself questions about your beliefs and actions:

• What do I believe about myself?
• What has been most meaningful to me in life so far?
• What experiences bring me joy and satisfaction?
• What was the saddest event in my past?
• When making decisions, which factors are most important to me?

What information can you gather from thinking about these circumstances? What do the answers tell you about your values?

Think about your role-models

Think about those whom you most respect and admire. This can be a family member, friend, public figure, or fictional character. Think about what it is that draws you to them and what kinds of values their actions represent. Consider if any of these values apply to yourself also.

Monitor yourself

Spend some time observing your actions, decisions and thoughts in real-time. Think about the value basis of what you say, think and do, writing down possible values represented.

Then what?

After you have a list of potential values you hold, narrow them down to 5 – 10 most fundamental core values that represent you. This can be made easier by trying the following.

• Look for any closely related values and eliminate close duplicates (e.g. if you have joy and fun, perhaps choose one to represent this)
• Consider categories such as Moral/Ethical, Internal, Social and Work-based, or any other groupings that suit, allowing 1 – 3 in each category based on what is the most important to you
• Rank your list from most to least essential values, and take the first 5 – 10 as your fundamental core values

There are many different ways to think about, organise and summarise your values, and there is no correct answer. Just remember that you are doing this to better your understanding, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself.

Developing and living by your core values

Living by core values is about understanding the principles you deem essential and setting personal standards according to them, no matter the situation. Core values are the foundation for day-to-day decisions; they provide guidance when faced with complex problems or ethical dilemmas, so listen to your gut and consider your key core values as you face difficult choices.

When you come across incidences where you have to choose how to behave, what to say or find your internal dialogue running, think about whether or not your reactions align with your values. If not, adjust. Once you have gone through the process above to identify better and understand your values and bring your attention explicitly to them, this behaviour change will likely come more naturally. Indeed, your natural reactions will align with your ideal self with practice.

Conclusion

The journey to living by core values is a life-long pursuit. It requires self-reflection and an honest assessment of what matters most to you. But it’s worth the effort. Living according to core values can bring clarity in decision-making, help create meaning out of life experiences, and provide an overall sense of peace and contentment.

Living by core values is about developing an internal compass – guiding principles that provide direction when challenges or doubts arise. A robust set of personal values anchors life’s storms, providing stability and security during difficult times. By committing to your core values daily, you can stay true to your authentic self no matter what challenges come your way.