We all make choices every day—but what guides those choices? When you know your values, decisions become easier, your direction becomes clearer, and your life becomes more meaningful.
Values are like your personal compass. They guide how you act, treat others, and make choices every day. When you live by your values, life feels more meaningful and fulfilling.
🎯 Goals vs. Values
Goals are things you want to achieve—like getting a new job or running a marathon. They’re short-term wins.
Values are what truly matter to you—like honesty, family, growth, or kindness. They’re the deeper reasons behind your goals.
When your goals match your values, your life becomes more purposeful—and you feel proud of how you live, not just what you achieve.
💡 Why Values Matter
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Instant Motivation: You can live your values every day, even in small ways.
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Strength in Hard Times: Values help you stay strong and focused when life gets tough.
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Be Your True Self: Living your values makes you feel more real and confident.
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Lasting Happiness: Doing what matters to you brings long-term joy—not just quick highs.
🧭 Step 1: Know Your Values
Think about what makes you feel proud, fulfilled, or inspired. What matters most to you? Pick 3 to 5 values that feel right.
Try This: Pick a role you play (like friend or teammate). Ask yourself: How do I want to treat others in this role? What kind of person do I want to be?
Need help? Use the Values Inspiration Page.
🔤 Step 2: Create an Acronym
Use the first letter of each value to form a word (like "FLAG" for Family, Love, Adventure, Growth). This helps you remember your values every day.
🔁 Step 3: Live Your Values Daily
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Morning: Say your acronym and think about how to live it today.
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During the day: Ask, "Is this action true to my values?"
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Evening: Reflect: Did I live my values? What can I improve?
🎯 Step 4: Set Value-Based Goals
Each week, pick one value to focus on. Create a small goal linked to that value. For example:
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Value: Kindness → Goal: Help someone every day this week.
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Value: Growth → Goal: Read 10 minutes each night.
One step at a time, you’ll build a life that truly feels right.
Want to live with more clarity and purpose? These focus sections guide you step by step—from knowing your values to turning them into daily habits that keep you grounded.
Goals are specific, measurable objectives we aim to achieve. They are the tangible outcomes we pursue, such as a successful career, a loving relationship, or financial stability. While goals provide direction and motivation, they are endpoints in themselves. Achieving a goal may bring short-term satisfaction, but it's often followed by the question, "What's next?"
Values, on the other hand, are the fundamental beliefs and principles that guide your actions and decisions. They represent the core essence of who you are, what you stand for and how you want to treat others and the world around you. Values provide the framework for setting meaningful goals. When your goals align with your values, they become stepping stones on your path to fulfillment.
The most important difference between goals and values is that values are instantly empowering in a way that goals never can be. Why? Because we can always live our values in little ways. Because of that, they are instantly fulfilling.
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Intrinsic Motivation: Studies in positive psychology have shown that pursuing goals aligned with your values leads to greater intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation arises from within and is associated with long-term happiness and fulfillment.
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Resilience: Values provide a source of resilience during challenging times. When your actions align with your values, you're more likely to persevere in the face of obstacles, as your actions are driven by a deeper sense of purpose.
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Authenticity: Living in accordance with your values fosters authenticity. Research suggests that authenticity is linked to life satisfaction, well-being, and positive psychological outcomes.
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Sustained Happiness: Pursuing goals that reflect your values leads to sustained happiness and well-being. This contrasts with the temporary happiness often associated with achieving external goals.
Story: Imagine someone training for a marathon. They’ve set a goal: cross the finish line. But two runners train very differently. One is driven only by the result—every run is a chore to get closer to the goal. The other enjoys the process: the early mornings, the discipline, the feeling of becoming stronger. Their goal is the same, but their value—personal growth—makes every step rewarding. One chases a result. The other lives the journey. That’s the difference between goals and values.
It's important to clarify values because once we know what they are, we can make good use of them. We can use them as an "inner compass" to guide us through life and help us make wise choices and also as a source of energy and motivation to help us do more towards our goals and aspirations.
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Identify Your Values: Take some time to reflect on your core values. These are the principles and beliefs that are most important to you. Consider what brings you a sense of fulfillment, contentment, and purpose in life. Some common values include integrity, compassion, family, adventure, creativity, or growth. Our Values Inspiration Page contains a long list of values to get you started. Screen the list and write down 8–10 values that resonate with you.
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Narrow Down Your Values: Once you've brainstormed a list of values, try to narrow it down to your top 3–5 values. These are the values that resonate with you the most and truly define who you are or who you want to be as a person.
Exercise: Pick an important role you play regularly that involves interacting with other people (e.g. friend, partner, parent, neighbor, employee, student, or team member.) Imagine I start asking this person about you the following questions:
- How do you generally treat them?
- What do you say and do when they're distressed or struggling or going through a tough patch?
- How do you generally tend to treat other people?
- What are your 3 greatest qualities, in terms of how you interact with others?
What would you want this person to answer (and genuinely mean)? Take at least 2 minutes to think about this. Now repeat the exercise for another role you play. Again, take 2 minutes...
The website Personal Values Assessment offers a simple and free tool to assist in this process.
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Choose a Short Word: To make it easy to remember your values daily, create an acronym using the first letter of each of your top values. For example, if your top values are Family, Integrity, Love, Adventure, and Growth, you could create the acronym "FILAG." This helps you stay grounded throughout your day.
Tip: Think of your acronym as your emotional fingerprint. Repeat it during the day to stay true to who you are.
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What Are Value-Based Goals?: Value-based goals are specific, actionable objectives that align with your core values. These goals serve as a practical way to ensure that you are living in harmony with your values.
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Setting Value-Based Goals: Each week, select one of your core values to focus on. Create a clear and achievable goal related to that value. This goal should be something you can work on daily or throughout the week. For example, let's say "integrity" is one of your values. Your value-based goal for the week could be to be completely honest in all your interactions, even when it's challenging. If you want to prioritize "family," a value-based goal could be to spend at least one hour of quality time with your family every day.
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Weekly Focus on Values: As a simple way to integrate new values, consider choosing one value each week to focus on. During that week, set a clear intention or goal related to that value. For instance, if your chosen value for the week is "family," your goal could be to plan and participate in a family game night every weekend.
Metaphor: Think of values like seeds. Your goals are how you water them. A little water each day helps them grow into something beautiful and lasting.
