Personal Core Values: The Definitive Guide

Knowing your personal core values is essential to living your most authentic and purposeful life. Only 1 in 10,000 people can name their top values– and after reading this guide you’ll be one of them!

If you feel lost, confused, or unhappy with how your life plan is playing out, you can get back on track by finding your core values. If you want to know what is your why, life will immediately make more sense when you know your values.

Let’s get started!

Table of Contents

1. How do you begin to get to know Your True Self?

The foundation for Happily Ever After is living authentically. And that means living in alignment with your top five core values as they represent the authentic, genuine you!

 
 

Values represent your deepest cares. Once you know your top five values, you can make choices that speak into your core; doing so minimizes wasting your precious time and energy on buyer’s remorse and regret.

Your values are the foundation for an authentic and purposeful life. 

2. What are personal values?

A broad personal values definition is, “what one considers important or worth seeking.”

More specifically, your personal core values are the select values that you hold most dear in the world. Some examples of personal values include Wisdom, Family, Freedom, Adventure, and Authenticity. (Those are actually my top 5 values!)

They are your core beliefs about what is essential. These personal values make up the heart of who you are and what is important in your life. (Keep reading to reach our list of core values.)

Your personal core values should be what you care about most in the world.

In other words, they are not what others think you should care about most.

They are uniquely yours.

There are lots of personal values examples. My 5 most important values are:

  • Family

  • Freedom

  • Adventure

  • Authenticity

  • and Wisdom.

Your most important personal values might be love, financial security, knowledge, creativity, personal growth, or any combination of all of the values in the world.

To help you find yours, I put together a complete core values list of society’s most commonly held core values (250+) in my free first step of the 10 Steps to Happily Ever After.

3. Why are values important?

Alexander Hamilton once said, “If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.”

The importance of your values is that they let you know what you stand for.

When you know your values, it allows you to “fall” only for the things that align with your deepest held truths.

Knowing your values also helps you live authentically and be your authentic self, because you know the core of yourself.

Your values are the foundation for an authentic and purposeful life.

 
 

You can also use your values to help you live a happier life.

  • Values-based boundary building using your values is covered in STEP 3: YOUR HAPPY SPACE - Set strong boundaries to create your happy space.

  • Values-based decision making is covered in STEP 4: YOUR 10-10-10 - Elevate your life choices so regret is a thing of the past.

  • That information is covered in STEP 6: YOUR LOVE FIT - Reveal the kind of love that makes you happy.

  • Finding your purpose is covered in STEP 8: YOUR MAGICAL PURPOSE - Start leading the life you were meant to lead.

  • That information is covered in STEP 7: YOUR JOB FIT - Discover a calling that makes you happy.

The list of how your values can help you be happier goes on and on! 

Knowing your values clarifies who you are, and is fundamental for living your happiest, most fulfilling life. 

And, when you know your most important personal values, life becomes so much more fun!

Now it’s time to find your values.

4. Tools & Next Steps

Finding your core values is a discovery process, but our steps make the process simple!

To receive the free digital values deck and the Values worksheet, sign up for the free next step.

Sign up to receive the free guide today

The first step of the 10 Steps to Happily Ever After comes with the free full guide, the Values Worksheet, the Digital Values Deck, and an accompanying video with Tomi as your guide — with no further commitment.