How to Discover Your Core Values

Core values are the intangible yet crucial principles that guide your life, creating a foundation of meaning, love, and purpose. Are you driven by connection, compassion, empowerment, or generosity? These are not just ideals, but the essential elements that form the core of your Elevated Authenticity.

THREE BENEFITS TO KNOWING YOUR CORE VALUES

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1. Motivation: According to the Institute for Life Coaching Training, aligning your goals with your core values can accelerate your progress towards desired changes by tenfold. That’s truly motivating!
2. Authority: Identifying your core values puts you in control, allowing you to lead your life guided by what truly matters to you, rather than being led astray by fleeting desires.
3. Elevated Authenticity: Understanding your core values deepens your authenticity. Recognizing what's genuinely important enables you to make decisions that reflect your true self, not merely conform to others’ expectations.

DISCOVERING YOUR CORE VALUES

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Discovering your core values is an enlightening process that reveals the deeply held beliefs that spark joy, fulfillment, and passion in your life. These values are not merely abstract concepts but are the driving forces behind your every decision and aspiration. Whether fostering relationships, nurturing compassion, empowering others, or giving generously, each value plays a pivotal role in shaping your interactions and defining your identity, your elevated authenticity, across all areas of life, from personal connections to professional environments.

In my experience helping clients pinpoint their core values, I initially offered a comprehensive list of over 300 values for them to choose from. However, this method often led to overwhelm because many values seemed appealing, and clients struggled to narrow down their choices. This approach also brought up the issue of "shoulds"—values they felt obliged to choose due to external pressures, which often led to a lack of genuine connection and commitment to those values.

To refine this process, I shifted to a more interactive and introspective approach by utilizing a Core Values Questionnaire. This tool is designed to delve into a client’s deepest desires through targeted questions, encouraging a more personal and meaningful exploration of what truly resonates with them.

As you answer the following questions, remember that values are intangibles. For example, hiking is not a value, it's an activity. But what hiking offers you (adventure, peace, or maybe something else), that is the value underneath.

Think beyond the general values of faith and family. They are simply too vague. What your faith means to you or offers you, that is the value to unearth. And family is a group of people, not a value. What your family offers you like connection or loyalty or support, those are the values you want to pay attention to.

These questions encourage you to think beyond conventional answers and tap into the unique values that authentically represent who you are. As you engage with these questions, you'll begin to uncover the core values that not only define but also empower and guide your life towards greater authenticity and purpose.

THE 6 CORE VALUE QUESTIONS

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Answer thesequestions with as many examples from your past as well as your present in allareas of life (work, home, community, leisure). With each example, askyourself, What value does that honor? Why is that important to me?

1. What things, if they were taken away or you couldn’t do them, would make life unbearable? What makes these things valuable to you?
2. What did you go out of your way to do this week? What was the underlying reason?
3. Identify times at work and home when you were the angriest. What was happening then? What made you so angry? (For example, if disrespect drives you bonkers, your value could be respect. If injustice gets under your skin, justice could be your value.)
4. Who do you admire? What about them do you admire?
5. What are your soap box issues? Why?
6. What would you regret NOT doing? Why?

YOUR TOP 10 CORE VALUES

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Using these 6 coaching questions to uncover your core values can lead to profound insights about what truly matters to you. As you reflect on these questions, themes will likely emerge that pinpoint the values deeply ingrained in your life.

Secret tip: In my coaching practice, I have found that 75% of a person’s core values lines up with the strengths of their authentic personality type. If you don’t know your personality type yet, the Your Authentic Personality Quiz is a great place to start.

Once you've identified these, create a list of your top 10 core values and prioritize them according to their significance to you. Assess how well your current life aligns with these values by using a Likert scale from 1 to 10, with 10 representing strong alignment. If any values score below a 7, consider ways to better integrate them into your daily actions.

To keep these core values visible and at the forefront of your mind, place your list in a spot you'll see daily—be it your bathroom mirror, car dashboard, desk, or kitchen cabinet. This simple practice can greatly enhance your daily decision-making and ensure your actions reflect your deepest values.

If you find this process challenging or wish to dive deeper, I'm here to help. Consider scheduling a complimentary discovery session where we can explore your values further and discuss how coaching can help you reach your most important goals. Remember, understanding your core values is not just about personal insight—it's about transforming the way you live and interact with the world around you. Are you ready to live a life that truly resonates with who you are? Let’s get started.