What Are Your Core Values?

We often hear of core values for companies or corporations, but what are your core values? Whether we know it or not, each of us has our own set of values. They are what determine which aspects of life we regard as important, and greatly affect how we deal with day-to-day situations. Our social, political and religious interactions are shaped by the traits we value most. Each and every individual holds many values -values that are liable to change as we grow and reach different stages in our lives. While some of these values are ’superficial’, transitory, or fitting solely to the moment in which we find ourselves,others are deep-rooted within our being. Such values, are considered ‘core values’, and stay with us throughout our lives.

Where Do Our Core Values Come From?

Our core values are influenced and shaped as we grow as children. Our parents, neighbours, friends, colleagues, and teachers all lend a helping hand in their formation. As time progresses and we grow older, our values become more fixed. The once elaborate list of learned traits is whittled down to the 6 or 8 values that we appreciate most.

It is these core values that determine what is really important to us as an individual. Sadly, many of us are disconnected with our own core values. This can lead to a life of unhappiness, discontent and lack of fulfillment. It may even lead to conflict. Why, you may ask? Because the lives we are living are not in accordance with our own personal values. To be successful and live a happy life, we must know ourselves and what we value most.

Try this little exercise…Here is a list of words that might contain one or more of your core values. Circle 6 to 10 that reflect what you value most and feel free to add some that are not there. When you have chosen your core values, write them on 1 page and place them on your vision board or any other areas that you look at often during the day. Core values are a good reminder for us to “what” we want to live our lives by and having them in sight can be useful when we need to make decisions on how to handle different situations.

Personal Core Values
1. Positive Attitude
2. Respect
3. Compassion
4. Growth
5. Learning
7. Passion
8. Determination
9. Courage
10. Self-confidence
11. Innovation
12. Open minded
13. Responsible
14. Committed
15. Professional
16. Humble
17. Loyal
18. Loving
19. Trusting
20. Optimistic
21. Affluence
22. Adventure
23. Ambition
24. Balance
25. Benevolence
26. Belonging
27. Bravery
28. Charity
29. Clarity
30. Cheerfulness
31. Consciousness
32. Creativity
33. Decorum
34. Dependability
35. Discipline
36. Endurance
37. Enthusiasm
38. Fairness
39.Fearlessness
40. Flexibility
41. Focus
42. Generosity
43. Grace
44. Gratitude
45. Happiness
46. Harmony
47. Health
48. Honesty
49. Independence
50. Inspiration
51. Intelligence
52. Kindness
53. Leadership
54. Liberty
55. Maturity
56. Mindfulness
57. Motivation
58. Obedience
59. Organization
60. Peace
61. Perseverance
62. Philanthropy
63. Pleasure
64. Power
65. Punctuality
66. Reasonableness
67. Recognition
68. Religiousness
69. Resourcefulness
70. Self-control
71. Sensuality
72. Silliness
73. Sincerity
74. Strength
75.Sympathy
76. Teamwork
77. Thankfulness
78.Tranquility
79. Trustworthiness
80. Uniqueness
81. Understanding
82. Vitality
83. Warmth
84. Wealth
85. Willingness
86. Wisdom
87. Winning
88. Youthfulness
89. Justice
90. Joy
91. Excellence
92. Rationality
93. Rootedness
94. Risk-taking
95. Safety
96. Intuition
97. Wellness
98. Equality
99. Discovery
100. Inner peace