Values Hierarchy

How do I Discover my values Notes

You identify and clarify your personal values by taking time to
reflect on what is truly most important to you, and writing
those things down.

A list is provided to give you a start. It’s important to

understand, this is a list of words that describe common values.
None of these may be your values. They’re just there to kick
start the process.

Comprehensive instructions are provided to guide you but it’s

much more about you getting in touch with yourself and
trusting in the right answers coming.

Having identified a list of personal values, it helps to write a

personal values statement, or credo; something that describes
you as you feel you want, and intend to be.

It’s something that you can share with others so that they can
better understand you, or something that you can keep private
to use as a guide for your actions, it’s your choice. Periodically
checking the list is a good way to re-clarify your values.

If you’re going to get straight into working up your values

hierarchy, you’ll need to set aside some time; around an hour
or so to start with.

You’ll need some notepaper and a pen, or you can use the
worksheets provided. Find somewhere you can work
undisturbed, and can let your mind wander a little, you’ll want
to use your imagination quite a bit.

Read through the instructions, and then start creating your new
life!

Don’t force things and accept what comes through to you.

Most important, don’t judge what you come up with.

Some you’ll just ‘know’ are right, others need you to be honest
with yourself. Be willing to "try on" words you might normally
skip over. They might values you simply didn’t know you had.

A clue will be a reaction like;

o That's silly; there are better ones than that.

o That would mean I’d have to change my life a lot!
o You feel embarrassed or ‘odd’ when reading the word

It’s too easy to create a hierarchy that you think you should
have, but it won’t work. You’ll not stick with it and it’ll cause
you more upset in the long run.

Be yourself!

© 2007 – 2008, Stephen Hanson, The Careers Edge

 Values Hierarchy
Discovering and prioritising your values

(Note: If you’d rather use a notebook than the worksheets provided, feel free. The worksheets are
unimportant in themselves; it’s the process that counts. They’re just included as a convenience).

1. Using the worksheets provided, ask yourself what’s important to you in life. Using the list of
values provided, or choices of your own, make a list of ten or fifteen things that you come up
with; just take what comes to you.
a. Review your list a couple of times to see if there are others you want to add or
replace, often the more important values come out later.
b. One at a time, think of a few occasions when you were really motivated. Sense
the feeling you had right before you became motivated, it often indicates a
strong value. If there aren’t any, it doesn’t matter, if there are; add them to your
list.
2. Now to prioritise. Rank them in order of importance from 1 to however many you have. You
may need to shuffle this list more than once, but don’t be too concerned at getting it absolutely
right yet, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to refine and clarify it.
a. Take your number one value and compare it to each of the others, asking the
question "if I could have value 1, but not value 2, would that work for me? If I
could have one but not the other, which is most important to me?
b. You’ll know it’s your top value only when you’ve compared it to the others.
c. You may compare it to a few and it’s top, but then something on the list turns
out to be more important than the one you thought was number 1. This happens
quite often, because you often start with what you think should be your top
value, but actually isn't.
d. You have to be honest with yourself about this. It can be a little tedious, but it’s
worth the effort! It’s no good ending up with a list of what you think should be
your values, in the order in which you think they ought to go.
3. Once you have Number1, pick Number 2, and repeat the same process above, then do the same
to find 3, 4, 5, and so on.
4. Once you have your hierarchy, ask yourself "Is this an accurate portrayal of me?"
5. Make changes as necessary so that you have a strong feeling that this is you.
a. Be very careful to ensure you don't make a list of what you want your values to
be. It’s important to find out what they really are, now.
6. Next, look to see if there are any values that appear to be are in conflict with others. For
example thrift and generosity may be in conflict, or trust and caution, which is not to say they
are incompatible. It depends on your understanding of that value.
a. If there is an apparent conflict, explore what underlies each one, and clarify
whether they do, in fact, conflict.
b. If they do, re-prioritise until the conflict is resolved. You may need to go back to
step 3 to achieve this.
c. Alternatively check and perhaps change your underlying assumptions and beliefs
about this particular value.
d. Continue with this process from 3 through 5 until you are entirely comfortable
with your values hierarchy.

© 2007 – 2008, Stephen Hanson, The Careers Edge

 Values Hierarchy
Discovering and prioritising your values (cont)

7. Consider each value, and assess how much time is spent fulfilling each. A rough estimate is
sufficient.
a. Confirm that the top values are where you spend most of your effort, and decide
if what you're getting from these values is what you really want.
b. For example, if you’re having health problems, but health isn’t on your list, or it's
a long way down the list, it's a big clue as to why you’re health isn’t what you
want it to be! Health isn't on the list? You might want to put it on, or moving it
up the hierarchy if it's not high enough.
8. Now check the direction of your values. (!) Confused?
a. All behaviour is of fundamentally two types. Moving away from pain (something
undesirable like debt or loneliness or insecurity, or actual physical or mental pain),
or towards pleasure (happiness, fulfilment, peace of mind, contentment). Values
are unconsciously immersed in either of these two motivations. You determine
which by asking, "Why is that important to me" and listening carefully to the
reasons.
b. Check to see if they're about what to avoid, or about what to go for. If one of your
top values is about avoiding some kind of pain, for instance, you’ll spend a lot of
time thinking about what you want to avoid, which isn’t going to help you get
what you do want.*
c. If you want financial independence don’t focus on being debt free. That focuses
your attention away from what you want and towards avoiding of things you don’t
want. They aren’t the same thing!
d. Values that are about moving away from pain only provide motivation as far as the
relief of whatever is causing the pain.
e. Values that are about moving towards pleasure cause motivation to the point
where the pleasure is felt and achieved; it is much more powerful and sustainable.
9. Now check and decide if a value needs to increase in importance, and moved up in the list
(such as health), or a conflict needs to be resolved, or an away from value needs to be
reframed in some way so that it is expressed as a moving towards value.
a. A simple reframing might involve changing, “I want to be debt free”, to, “ I have
more than sufficient resources to live the life I choose in the way that I choose”.
b. Any value can be reframed in this way to ensure that it accords with your
ambitions and fully meets your needs.
10. Next, write down the value on worksheet 2, and then add a supporting statement that defines
exactly what this value means to you. Make it clear and as unambiguous as you can.
11. Finally, set yourself some goals for this, and your other values. This will give real purpose and
drive to your life.
Your values hierarchy, conscious or unconscious, is the rulebook by which you live your life,
and determines behaviour, priorities, and interactions with others. It’s the compass you use to
navigate life!

*(Sometimes, what you don’t want looms so large in your life; it’s difficult to not think about it. There is a particular
strategy you can adopt to overcome this, which involves a different approach, too complicated to go into in depth here.
If this is something that you want to clear, email me at stephen@thecareersedge.com and I’ll send you the information
you need. Alternatively, log into www.thecareersedge.com to pick up this and other free resources).

© 2007 – 2008, Stephen Hanson, The Careers Edge

 Values Hierarchy
Here are some examples of values. Choose those you feel most work for you.

It isn’t an exhaustive list so add your own if this list doesn’t totally work for you.

Use a verb or noun form as you please. Some people prefer to express their values as phrases
rather than words. The intention is not to supply you with a list of values, simply to provide
you with some creative impetus.

If it’s better for you to come up with a wholly different format that’s fine; it’s your list! You will
either find that it describes who you are in a way that other people would recognise, or that it
represents a different you and that you have not been behaving in ways that are congruent
with you own deeply held values. You might want to have a personal dialogue with yourself as
to why!

Values List

Accomplishment Ease of Use Knowledge Responsiveness

Accountability Efficiency Leadership Results-oriented
Accuracy Empathy Learning Romance
Adventure Empowerment Love Rule of Law
Altruism Enjoyment/Fun Loyalty Safety
Ambition Equality Maximum utilization Satisfying others
Beauty Excellence Meaning Security
Change Fairness Merit Self-givingness
Cleanliness Faith Money Self-reliance
Collaboration Family Openness Service
Commitment Flair Optimism Service to Others
Communication Flexibility Orderliness Simplicity
Community Freedom Patriotism Skill
Compassion Friendliness Peace, Non-violence Speed
Competency Friendship Perfection Spirit in life (using)
Competition Fun Persistency Stability
Concern for others Generosity Personal Growth Standardization
Content over form Global view Pleasure Status
Continuous improvement Good will Positive attitude Stewardship
Cooperation Goodness Power Strength
Coordination Gratitude Practicality Success
Courage Hard work Preservation Systemization
Creativity Harmony Privacy Teamwork
Credibility Honesty Problem Solving Timeliness
Customer satisfaction Honour Progress Tolerance
Decisiveness Improvement Prosperity, Wealth Tradition
Dedication Independence Punctuality Tranquillity
Delight of being joy Individuality Quality Trust
Democracy Influence Quality of work Truth
Dependability Inner peace Regularity Unity
Dignity Innovation Resourcefulness Variety
Discipline/Order Integrity Respect Wisdom
Discovery Joyfulness Respect for others Working Together
Diversity Justice Responsibility

© 2007 – 2008, Stephen Hanson, The Careers Edge

Values Hierarchy
Worksheet 1

Pos Val u e Pri o ri ty

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

© Stephen Hanson 2007 - 2008

Values Hierarchy

Worksheet
Value

Supporting Statement

Goals / Intentions

© Stephen Hanson 2007 - 2008