Identifying and Working Towards Your Values

What are Values?

Values represent chosen life paths that motivate us, enrich our lives, and give us a sense of purpose and meaning. In other words, they are like a life compass or roadmap that points us in the direction that matters most to us. These values signify who we want to be known as and the way in which family, friends, and others view us. There are many things that influence what our values are, such as family, school, peers, culture, religion, environment, milestones, personal experiences, and more. A combination of these factors help us start identifying our values early on in life, and these values remain fairly consistent throughout adulthood.

Ways to Identify Your Values

Some people may find it difficult to figure out how to identify what their values are. There are a few ways through which you can try and navigate this. One way is that you can search up a list of various values and then try to find 6-8 values that really resonate with you and what you desire, while eliminating the ones you don’t agree with. Another way is to think of some of the people you love and respect the most and try to consider why they are so important to you. You would want to figure out whether there are some values that they truly embody, which may be what makes you admire them so much, and you can see that this is a value that is important to you as well.

It is very likely that there may be an online inventory that can help you with identifying what your values are. However, it is important to try and find a trusted website that actually is reliable in helping you figure out your values. Lastly, another way that I personally believe to likely be the most helpful, is to try and think of the times where you were at your happiest and the times you were really proud of yourself. What was it that made you feel this way? Were you embodying a certain value that you may have never noticed you live by? By going through some of your most important experiences and positive emotions, you can help identify what led to those moments and feelings and choose to continue to live by those values.

Working Towards Your Values

Once you have identified your values, the next step is to make sure that you are consistently living by these values. You can do this through making sure you are participating in values-directed behaviour, which is choosing to engage in actions that are consistent with your chosen values. It also means letting values guide and dictate our behaviours rather than efforts to avoid stressful situations or unwanted thoughts and feelings. Living by our values helps to create meaning and purpose in our lives and keeps us steady throughout this journey we call life.