30 Personal Values Examples: How to Identify and Live by Your Core Principles

I'll never forget watching Adriana, one of my most committed clients, as she sat across from me during our third coaching session. Her pen hovered indecisively over her notebook while she wrestled with a question I'd just asked: "If I were to ask, what are your top three personal values today?"

Despite her impressive track record as a marketing director and her natural ability to connect with people, Adriana struggled to put words to the core principles that guided her life.

"I know this should be easy," she said with a nervous laugh, "but I'm drawing a complete blank." She confessed she was tempted to write down "money" or "happiness" right away, but she knew those were not going to be enough in the long run. Plus, they sounded awfully vague and not at all personalized to who she was and how she wanted to see herself. I immediately agreed with her.

The thing is, Adriana isn't alone. This scene plays out in my coaching practice almost weekly. Smart, accomplished professionals who can tackle complex business challenges often freeze when asked to name their personal values. Yet these fundamental beliefs serve as our internal compass, influencing everything from career choices to relationships to daily decisions.

Whether you're seeking greater authenticity in your leadership, clearer decision-making, or simply a more purposeful life, understanding your personal values creates the foundation for meaningful change.

This article explores what personal values truly are, provides 30 real-world examples (including which ones eventually resonated with Adriana), and offers practical techniques to identify and align your life with these guiding principles.

What Are Personal Values?

Personal values are the deeply held beliefs that anchor your life and guide your choices. Unlike fleeting preferences or situational ethics, your personal values represent your fundamental convictions about what matters most. They form the core of your identity and serve as internal navigation tools when faced with difficult decisions or competing priorities.

Personal values differ from societal norms or cultural expectations. While external forces may influence their development, truly authentic personal values resonate on a visceral level. They feel right to you, regardless of whether they align with popular opinion or conventional wisdom.

The power of personal values lies in their role as decision-making filters. When faced with complex choices, your values can dramatically simplify the process. Options that align with your core values feel authentic and energizing, while those that contradict them often create internal conflict and discomfort.

Beyond decision-making, personal values also:

• Provide stability during turbulent times

• Create consistency across different areas of life

• Help you recognize compatible relationships and environments

• Serve as a foundation for setting meaningful goals

• Act as intrinsic motivators more powerful than external rewards

30 Personal Values Examples

Personal values span a wide spectrum, from achievement-oriented principles to relationship-focused beliefs. The following 30 examples represent common personal values that might resonate with you. As you review them, notice which ones create an immediate emotional response—this often signals alignment with your authentic core values.

Achievement-Oriented Values

1. Excellence: Striving for exceptional quality in everything you do

2. Growth: Continuously developing your skills, knowledge, and capabilities

3. Achievement: Accomplishing meaningful goals and reaching significant milestones

4. Competence: Developing and demonstrating mastery in your chosen domains

5. Innovation: Creating new approaches, ideas, or solutions

Real-life example: Elon Musk demonstrates the personal value of innovation through his companies Tesla and SpaceX. His decisions consistently prioritize groundbreaking approaches over conventional methods, even when faced with significant challenges. This unwavering commitment to innovation has transformed multiple industries despite frequent setbacks.

Relationship-Oriented Values

6. Compassion: Showing genuine concern for others' well-being and suffering

7. Connection: Building and maintaining meaningful relationships

8. Loyalty: Remaining faithful to commitments and relationships

9. Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of others

10. Collaboration: Working effectively with others toward shared goals

Real-life example: Brené Brown embodies the personal value of connection through her research, writing, and speaking. Her work consistently emphasizes vulnerability as the foundation for authentic relationships, and she practices this principle by sharing her own struggles openly. This alignment between her stated values and actions has built tremendous trust with her audience.

Principle-Oriented Values

11. Integrity: Adhering to moral and ethical principles even when difficult

12. Honesty: Being truthful and transparent in words and actions

13. Justice: Treating people fairly and standing up for equality

14. Responsibility: Taking ownership of your actions and their consequences

15. Authenticity: Being true to yourself and your beliefs

Real-life example: Former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg demonstrated the personal value of justice throughout her career. Despite significant personal and professional obstacles, she consistently fought for equal rights under the law. Her commitment to this core value guided her work even when it required challenging established systems.

Self-Determination Values

16. Freedom: Having autonomy and independence in your choices

17. Courage: Acting despite fear, especially in service of other values

18. Resilience: Recovering and adapting when facing adversity

19. Self-reliance: Trusting your own capabilities and judgment

20. Determination: Persisting toward goals despite obstacles

Real-life example: Malala Yousafzai exemplifies the personal value of courage. After surviving an assassination attempt for advocating girls' education, she continued her activism on a global scale. Her commitment to education transcended personal safety concerns, demonstrating how deeply held values can inspire extraordinary courage.

Balance-Oriented Values

21. Presence: Being fully engaged with the current moment

22. Wisdom: Seeking deeper understanding and sound judgment

23. Balance: Maintaining harmony across different life domains

24. Health: Prioritizing physical and mental wellbeing

25. Simplicity: Finding clarity through uncomplicated living

Real-life example: Arianna Huffington shifted her priorities to embrace the personal value of health after collapsing from exhaustion while building her media company. This experience led her to launch Thrive Global, focusing on well-being and sustainable success. Her transformation demonstrates how personal values can evolve through life experience.

Contribution-Oriented Values

26. Service: Contributing to others' well-being or growth

27. Legacy: Creating lasting positive impact beyond your lifetime

28. Stewardship: Carefully managing resources for future generations

29. Community: Fostering belonging and connection among groups

30. Purpose: Aligning actions with meaningful vision and mission

Real-life example: José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen, lives the personal value of service by providing meals during disasters worldwide. From hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico to war-torn Ukraine, his organization mobilizes quickly to feed those in need. This consistent action demonstrates how personal values translate into tangible impact.

How to Identify Your Personal Values

Discovering your authentic personal values requires reflection and self-awareness. Unlike personality traits, which describe how you naturally behave, values represent what matters most to you. The following exercises help uncover these guiding principles:

The Peak Experiences Method

Identifying your values often begins with examining moments when you felt most alive and fulfilled:

1. List 3-5 peak experiences in your life—times when you felt completely aligned, energized, and authentic

2. For each experience, ask:

   • What specifically made this moment meaningful?

   • What values were being honored in this situation?

   • What was present here that feels essential to your fulfillment?

3. Look for patterns across these experiences to identify recurring values

For example, if your peak experiences all involve creative collaboration, values like connection, creativity, and contribution might be central to your authentic self.

The Frustration Reflection

Sometimes, your strongest negative reactions reveal your core values through their violation:

1. Identify 3-5 situations that triggered intense frustration, anger, or disappointment

2. For each situation, ask:

   • What specific aspect felt intolerable or wrong?

   • What value or principle was being violated?

   • If the opposite had occurred, what value would have been honored?

3. Look for patterns in these violations to identify values you can't compromise

For instance, if you consistently feel frustrated when others take credit for team accomplishments, you might highly value fairness, recognition, or integrity.

The Admiration Analysis

Those you admire often embody values you hold dear:

1. List 3-5 people you deeply respect and admire (personal connections, public figures, or historical individuals)

2. For each person, ask:

   • What specific qualities or actions do you admire?

   • What principles do they seem to live by?

   • What impact do they create that you find meaningful?

3. Extract the underlying values from these qualities and impacts

If you admire figures who stood against injustice despite personal risk, values like courage, justice, and integrity might be central to your authentic self.

The Life Timeline Visualization

This exercise reveals how values evolve throughout your life:

1. Create a timeline of significant decisions and transitions in your life

2. For each key decision point, ask:

   • What options did you have available?

   • What factors influenced your choice?

   • What did this decision say about what matters most to you?

3. Note how your values have evolved or remained constant over time

This historical perspective often reveals core values that have consistently guided your life, even as their expression evolved with different circumstances.

From Identification to Integration: Living Your Personal Values

Identifying your personal values represents just the first step in a transformative journey. The real power comes from integrating these principles into daily decisions and actions. These practical strategies help bridge the gap between knowing your values and living them:

Create a Personal Values Statement

Distill your core values into a clear, compelling statement:

1. Select 3-5 values that feel most essential and authentic

2. For each value, write a brief statement explaining what it means to you specifically

3. Combine these statements into a cohesive personal values declaration

4. Display this statement where you'll see it daily

For example: "I value courage, expressed through speaking truth even when difficult; connection, built through vulnerable authentic relationships; and growth, pursued through continuous learning and embracing challenges."

Conduct a Values Alignment Audit

Assess how well your current life aligns with your stated values:

1. List major areas of your life (career, relationships, health, finances, etc.)

2. For each area, rate alignment with your core values on a scale of 1-10

3. Identify specific aspects causing misalignment

4. Develop concrete actions to increase alignment in low-scoring areas

This audit often reveals surprising disconnects between stated values and actual life patterns. For instance, someone valuing family might discover their work schedule consistently prevents quality time with loved ones, highlighting a need for boundaries or career adjustments.

Establish Values-Based Decision Criteria

Create a systematic approach to making choices aligned with your values:

1. When facing significant decisions, list all available options

2. Create evaluation criteria based on your core values

3. Score each option against these criteria

4. Choose the option with greatest overall alignment

This methodical approach prevents impulsive decisions that might feel right momentarily but conflict with deeper values. For example, when considering a job offer, someone valuing both growth and work-life balance might evaluate opportunities based on learning potential, autonomy, required hours, and flexibility.

Practice Values Visualization

Mental rehearsal strengthens your capacity to live your values in challenging situations:

1. Identify upcoming scenarios likely to challenge your values

2. Visualize yourself responding in ways that honor your core principles

3. Mentally rehearse specific language and actions aligned with your values

4. Imagine how this alignment will feel internally

This technique builds neural pathways that support values-based behavior under pressure. For instance, someone valuing honesty might visualize delivering difficult feedback with both candor and compassion, rehearsing specific phrases and anticipating potential reactions.

Create Accountability Systems

External structures strengthen internal commitments:

1. Share your values and intentions with trusted others

2. Establish regular check-in routines focused on values alignment

3. Create measurable indicators for each core value

4. Track these indicators to monitor progress

These accountability mechanisms convert abstract values into concrete behaviors. For example, someone valuing health might track weekly exercise sessions, meditation practice, and nutritious meal preparation, then review these metrics monthly with an accountability partner.

Personal Values in Leadership and Organizations

Individual values gain additional significance in leadership contexts, where they influence organizational culture and team dynamics. Leaders who clearly understand and consistently live their personal values create several powerful effects:

Authentic Leadership

When leaders operate from deeply held personal values, they cultivate authenticity that resonates throughout organizations:

• Consistency between words and actions builds trust

• Values-based decisions gain credibility even when unpopular

• Teams feel secure following leaders with clear guiding principles

Consider how Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella transformed the company's culture by emphasizing his personal values of empathy, learning, and collaboration. This shift from cutthroat competition to growth mindset principles revitalized the organization, demonstrating how authentic leadership creates cascading positive effects.

Values-Based Organizational Culture

Leaders who articulate and embody clear values shape organizational environments:

• Stated values translate into behavioral norms and expectations

• Hiring and promotion decisions reflect core principles

• Recognition systems reinforce values-aligned behaviors

Patagonia exemplifies this approach, with founder Yvon Chouinard's environmental values permeating every aspect of operations. From sustainable materials to advocacy campaigns, the organization's activities consistently reflect its founding principles, creating a distinctive culture that attracts aligned employees and customers.

Value Conflicts and Resolution

Even with clear personal values, leaders inevitably face situations where principles seem to conflict:

• Short-term profit vs. long-term sustainability

• Innovation vs. stability

• Individual autonomy vs. team cohesion

Resolving these tensions requires deep understanding of your value hierarchy—which principles take precedence when conflicts arise. Leaders who navigate these dilemmas transparently, explaining their reasoning in values-based terms, build trust even during difficult decisions.

Conclusion: The Evolving Nature of Personal Values

Your personal values represent both anchor and compass—grounding you in what matters most while guiding your journey forward. Yet these core principles aren't static. As you grow through experience, your values may evolve in several ways:

• Core values often remain stable but express themselves differently across life stages

• Their relative priority might shift as circumstances change

• New values may emerge through transformative experiences

• Your understanding of what each value means will likely deepen over time

Remember Adriana from our introduction? After trying several of these exercises, she finally identified her core values—courage, excellence, and connection. The "peak experiences" method was particularly revealing for her, as she realized that her proudest moments all involved stepping outside her comfort zone (courage) to create exceptional work (excellence) that brought people together (connection).

Six months later, Adriana told me how this clarity had transformed her leadership. "I filter every decision through these three values now," she explained over coffee. "Last week, I turned down a major project because it would have required compromising on quality to meet the timeline." Her team has noticed the difference too. "They actually gave me this," she said, pulling out a thank-you card where her team had written about her "refreshing authenticity" and "consistent direction." The small smile on her face said everything about the power of living aligned with your values.

Your journey with personal values follows a similar path. Through intentional identification and integration, these guiding principles become more than abstract concepts—they transform into lived experience, shaping a life of purpose, integrity, and fulfillment.

The question isn't whether you have personal values. We all do. The real question is whether you've consciously identified them and intentionally aligned your life with their guidance. The exercises and examples in this article provide your starting point. The meaningful life that follows is the destination worth pursuing.