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Core Values: A descriptive guide.
Core values are one of the important aspects of humankind because it defines, differentiates, and give you an identity and personality as a human. But not everyone is well equipped with their core values and that is one of the reasons they might feel a little lost in their life. But understanding and getting more clarity core values can actually help you become more clear about how you want to accomplish goals both in your professional and personal life. And whether you agree or not it is super important for you to thrive in your life, because all the struggle you go through is for achieving your life goals and accomplishing milestones.
5 Min Read
What is meant by "CORE VALUES"?
Your Core Values define what you stand for as a person. It helps create and refine your Personality as a human being and a contributing member of society. It helps define how you behave, think, act, decide, and most importantly, how you live. Moreover, they matter because they are one of the most critical factors shaping your Identity. Furthermore, Identity and Personality are two of the most critical aspects of human life. Your goal is to create your Identity, and once you establish that, you keep refining your Personality. This ensures that you thrive not only in your profession but also in your personal life.
The core value is an integral part of your human values.
Yes, Core Values matter a whole lot without you even realizing it.
So what do we mean by Core Values?

Core Values are the qualities that you hold as your top priority, no matter what.
Core values are defined as the qualities that are your highest priority. Similar to what the heart is to your body. It defines your behavioral aspects, your thought processes, and your life or professional decisions. They are the foundation or the fundamental beliefs that drive you towards your goals and milestones. They define your life's true purpose, who you are, and what you want from life. They help you create a standard of life. They help you evaluate your actions, their reactions, and their collective results.
Core values are your deeply held beliefs that are hard to change. They can be refined but hardly changed which is why it is important to develop good core values in your early days both in personal and professional life. Otherwise, it becomes really hard to overwrite them with new ones later on.
Is there any category of core values?
Yes, indeed. Human Values are categorized into ten basic ones developed by Israeli Sociologist- Shalom H. Schwartz. His theory is the most celebrated theory to date as it is very clear, and to the point which means it is free from any doubts or confusion. He developed his theory based on research from almost every country in the world which is why it is so flawless. Though flawless this theory is not easy to understand by the general people if they don't follow the timeline precisely (You can read more about the Schwartz Theory here).
This is why humans usually define it into three major categories based on an everyday basis because these are easy to remember and remind themselves of. Also easy to refer to when they need to explain them even to a child.

The three types of Core Values.
- Personal Core Values- These values define your personality and your identity which are an integral part of your socialization. They tend to develop with your life experiences, your thought processes, and your decision-making process. Example of personal values is- selflessness, family bonds, tradition, trust, freedom, happiness, etc.
- Social Core Values- These values are related to the professional environment or social settings. You need to abide by this in your professional career as a company/organization. They help you understand what you need while working in a certain corporate environment. They help you work efficiently and effectively together with other colleagues. These help you to get comfortable with your coworkers even when two persons have different perspectives. Example of social values is- accountability, responsibility, balance, consistency, punctuality, commitment, etc.
- Universal Core Values- These are some of the universal core values of human nature. They can be found in every almost every human being on earth. And depending on the situation you find yourself in, you showcase them. They hold similar meanings for almost everyone. Some examples of these values are- Kindness, Humanity, Peace, etc.
Why core values are so important to humankind?
Core values are the DNA of your behavior, livelihood, and purpose in life. This means they are the key to what you do, why you do it, who you are, and what you want to achieve in your life. For example- if your family is given a chance to go on a free vacation in the middle of the school term, you will most likely decline the offer because you value your child's education and that is your priority at the moment. This is how you might be making simple yet value-based decisions in your everyday life as well.

Core Values are the DNA of human behavior, thoughts, livelihood, and decision-making process.
The core values create the foundation for your thought process and your decision-making process. This is why they matter a lot to you. And you will never neglect them for anything in life. They stand dear to you, no matter what. As a matter of fact, both yin and yang also affect your decision because you as a human being have both negative and positive space in your life.
As a human being, you are different. Indeed, we all are similar yet so different from one another.
Let me explain this, the core values that you hold so near and dear to you help you decide both positively and negatively. For example, I have gained a lot of weight post pregnancy which is surely hard to shed asap, but when I see people in my family who lost a good amount of weight with discipline and dedication, rather than feeling bad about myself being overweight I was happy for their success. Or a time when someone in my husband's family died, even though I have rarely met this person, I still felt sad to hear the news and I was there to support him.
All of these actions of mine or even yours are the reflection of your core values and what really matters to you. Because these values integrate into your life over a period of time at your early age, and thus it becomes really hard, later on, to change them, let alone replace them.
In the book "The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*uck", the author Mark Manson categorized values as Good Values and Bad Values. He differentiated the good values to be evidence-based, controllable, and constructive while the bad values were defined as emotion-based, uncontrollable and destructive.
How do your Core Values differ from those around you?
Your core values are completely unique and tailored based on your life experiences, your life lessons, and your decisions. They cannot be the exact same for any two people in the whole wide world, this means even when the other person lives seven seas across from you. They define your identity and your personality greatly. And the impact you create with it is memorable for life. Others are reminded of your actions or reactions in a certain situation because of the core values you showcased in front of them.
Core values express who we are and what we stand for as human beings.
A person who lives by their values is called a concrete-minded human. Moreover, there is a reason for that. They understand what they want from life. They know the importance of their core values in life. Moreover, they prioritize them above everything else to lead a value-rich life.
What areas of your life are impacted by your core values?
Core values help you in every stage of life because your decisions are heavily based on them. They are the key to your behaviors, nature, personality, and existence which is why they are important to what you do in your life. Thus they hugely impact some of the following aspects of your life:

Core Values hugely impact different aspects of your life.
Thought process
Your thought process evaluates a situation, an action, or a reaction based on your core values. And once you are able to streamline your thought process you are able to decide on what your next steps might be accordingly. Your thought process is fairly controllable and thus constructive for you. When you take time to process a certain action in your brain, you are more likely to have a better decision thus obtaining a better result moving forward with it.
Decision making
Decision-making can be both positive and negative depending on your thought process. Your decisions can be evidence-based or emotion-based depending on the situation you might find yourself in. This is why your decisions can be a huge factor that affects the way you lead your life.
Way of living your life
Based on your thought process and decision-making process, you are able to define a certain standard of living for yourself. And this highly affects your behavior within society or even your own family. The way you lead your life is important for determining your personality and identity, which is why it can be highly destructive and uncontrollable if not done right.
Why are core values important in the profession?
Now let's address the elephant in the room- How can you find your core values?
Since they are super important in personal and professional life, it is important to know them inside and out as well. This is not some guessing game of - "I know my core values" without even defining them. You need to understand and follow a certain process to find them precisely in order to maximize your potential as a human being thus leading to the successful accomplishment of your goals in life. And to do that I've listed down three methods that you can use right away to define them with ease.

The three methods to find your Core values are: Manual Method (time-consuming, inefficient), Online Personality Test (non-scientific, unreliable), and Core Values Finder (the best, accurate, and scientific method)
- You have got a manual method, where you use a simple paper and pen and follow this exercise. This is quite easy to become friendly with the concept as a beginner. But as you learn more and more about them, you'll find that this is time-consuming, a bit confusing and the results are approximate which is why it is relying on these will not help you be effective and efficient in your life.
- The second one is through the Online Personality/Values tests. This is a bit quicker because you simply have to answer a bunch of questions and you get the result in front of you. The tests are available both for free and paid versions depending on which website you are taking the test on. The hindrance that I always have and up debating about in my mind is whether these results are accurate enough as these results are generally based on automated software. Thus the question that remains here is whether I should trust the result and act upon it or whether I need more clarity about my core values based on the result obtained through some computer software.
- And the final method that is both reliable and accurate is using a first-of-its-kind, only scientific research-based tool available on the market right now- Core Values Finder. It is scientifically validated thus the result is absolutely trustworthy. This tool is designed in collaboration with renowned psychologists which means you can definitely trust the results you get here.
Choose good core values, because they will be with you throughout life.
How do you find your core values?
As an employed person who is highly engaged in career-making activities, you are more conscious of your core values in a professional space. As these spaces have got their own set of core values that you need to abide by. You are more careful in such surroundings and are constantly trying to align with them. Thus, your decisions, behavior, and way of life would be somewhat different in your professional space than what they are in your personal space.
Your core values significantly contribute to your beliefs, behaviour, and life.
The company or an organization has a set of its own core values so that everyone in the space can connect and align to these values and no two personalities clash based on their personal values while working on the same project.

Your Core Values define the environment you work in and make it soothing for you so you can work proficiently in a team as well.
They define the environment and make it calm and soothing to work in as this is the place where you are most likely spending 2/3rd of your entire day. Thus they are super important in profession and professional spaces to keep it cohesive and manage it well.
Let me tell you why the Core Values Finder method is better than the first two methods:
- Core Values Finder is the only tool that is scientifically validated, which means the questions are scientifically researched before it is put forth in front of you.
- The process is pretty simple and quick. It takes around 15-20 minutes for you to complete the test.
- The interface is quite user-friendly even for those who are not used to computers or mobile (which is a rare case in itself though). This means whether you used to teach or not, you can complete this test pretty easily.
- Even though you have to pay a few bucks to get your Personalized Evaluation Report, it is worth every buck you spent because:
- Your reports are individually created by the team of Core Values Finder.
- You are provided with a pretty in-depth Evaluation of your core values in this report which can help you get huge clarity about yourself and decide on your future action plans.
- You get a simple yet effective and completely tailored action plan in this report that you can easily integrate into your everyday life gradually helping you maximize your potential and accomplish your life goals with ease.
- The Creators of Core Values Finder made sure to provide different settings - individual tests, and Enterprise mode for organizations and universities.
- They also provide free research and knowledge through their hand-crafted Research and Knowledge Hub
But don't just take my words for it, click here and experience it for yourself and thank me later.
Final thoughts
Core values give a direction to your life, meaning they play a significant role in any human's life. This is why you must be very careful when choosing and defining them. And not only that but understanding them is equally important.
Whenever you feel lost, you always return to your core values.
In this article, we've covered pretty much everything you need to know about core values. And listed down three methods to help you find them.
But if you ask my recommendation for the method you should go ahead with, I can totally vouch for Core Values Finder as the best one so far over the rest.
With that, I take your leave here and eagerly look forward to hearing from you about your journey to discovering your core values.
- Understanding values: Schwartz theory of basic values. (2022, May 16). Integration and Implementation Insights.
- Wikipedia contributors. (2022, February 7). Shalom H. Schwartz. Wikipedia.
- Manson, M. (2022, May 13). Personal Values: How to Know Who You Really Are. Mark Manson.
- Wikipedia contributors. (2022, June 26). The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Wikipedia.
- Jeffrey, S. (2020, October 14). 7 Steps to Discovering Your Personal Core Values. Scott Jeffrey.
- Alexander, B. (2021, January 15). Effective Decision Making: Using Core Values as the Filter. Teach Better.
- Ratnawat, R. G. (2019, February 1). Understanding values and their role in human life. HR Katha.
- Kesberg, R. (2018). The Relation Between Human Values and Perceived Situation Characteristics in Everyday Life. Frontiers.
About The Author
Our writer, Huda Chougle is fascinated by homemaking through experiences and how homemakers can maximize their potential. As a homemaker and parent, and a self-development enthusiast, her work always remains true to the science beneath it.
Comments 1
Thanks for writting this!