Mining Core Values

How To Unearth The Particles of Your Essence

Sep 03, 2024

Core values are the foundation of your accomplishments. They don’t just guide you in reaching your goals—they literally define what success means for you. They shape your mission and the benchmarks by which you can and should measure your life.

When you act against your core values, no matter how impressive the result, it’s ultimately a wasted effort. Anything misaligned with your values leaves a lingering sense of dissatisfaction; your conscience will make sure of that.

Research shows that living by your core values can boost your happiness and overall well-being. It improves your decision-making and gives you a stronger sense of purpose.1 In addition, with a fledged-out core value profile, it will become more straightforward for you to set good goals, make heartfelt commitments, and evaluate your success.

You’ve probably encountered advice on finding and defining your values before—maybe you’ve even tried it. But could you confidently name your core values right now? If you’re unsure about the top 10 values that make up your core value profile, keep reading, as I’ll share my values and five practical approaches to help you mine yours.

What Are Core Values?

Our dictionaries are filled with countless ways to express wanting something: we desire, we love, we approve of, and we are being attracted to, we care about, we endorse, we prefer, we identify with, or we feel compelled by. The list goes on…

Agnes Callard, in her book Aspiration, explains that these words can be divided into two distinct layers. The first layer is more surface-level, encompassing desires, urges, and attractions—matters of “the flesh.” The second layer, however, goes deeper, touching on what truly resonates with someone; it includes words like “endorsement” and “identification.” Values belong to this deeper layer. They represent what an individual genuinely wants to achieve or embody, what they want to “stand for,” and what they hold “close to their heart.”

Here are a few examples:

Beauty
Honesty
Discipline
Truth
Responsibility
Kindness

While a great many values may lightly resonate with us, once one digs deeper, one finds that there are a few that genuinely strike a chord. These are our core values—the ones that define us and sit close to our “nexus.” You are “all about” your core values.” They’re the words you’d want engraved on your tombstone, the legacy you’d like others to remember about you once you’re gone. Core values are the ten or so values you hold so dear you will want to refuse to compromise on them, as they feel deeply tied to the essence of who you are. They are particles of your essence.

Together, all your core values make up what we could call a personal core value profile. To give you a concrete example, I’ll share my very own here. I added some more details on each value, but note, that these are more or less raw and unedited, so they may not be perfectly symmetrical.

Authenticity – To Become & Sincerely Embody Who I Truly Am While Keeping a Playful Attitude.
I want people to remember me as an interesting and whole person who led by example, walked his talk, and taught his children well.
Honesty – To Tell No Lies
I want people to remember me as someone who always spoke the truth.
Growth – To Unleash My Full Potential Across All My Life Realms and Never Cease To Grow.
I want to continuously learn, improve, and bring about paradigm shifts in my life.
Wisdom – To Be Open to New Experiences and Value Truth Over Comfort, Convenience, and Ease.
I want to never stop learning and refining my life, always valuing wisdom over ease.
Curiosity – To Never Cease Exploring, Experimenting, and Discovering.
I want to explore and experiment with everything life has to offer.
Excellence – To Be Determined And Master Three Crafts “Fully”
So far, I’ve only discovered two: coding and writing.
Productiveness – To Accomplish Meaningful Work, Prioritize Simplicity, Avoid Waste, and Opt For Synergies & Flow
My focus is on progress, productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency.
Integrity – To Follow Through With What I Commit To
I want to build a life truly worth living and remain committed to it.
Autonomy – To Become and Remain A Free Agent And Master of My Life
I want to determine how I spend my time, mix things up, and never become complacent.
Harmony – To Balance My Life Across All My Life Realms
I want to maintain balance across the different areas of my life.

Core Value Mining — 5 Approaches

Identifying your ten most important values is not something you can typically accomplish in a single sitting, especially if you’ve never thought about them before. Some values may be more mentally visible and spring to mind quickly. Others might resonate deeply when you read them (perhaps some of my examples did that for you). However, to craft a coherent and complete picture of your own core values, you’ll likely need to give yourself more time. This process of discovering your core values is something you’ll want to “mine” (as in unearth but also as in “make mine”) over time, revisiting the exercise periodically.

In the following sections, I’ll share five approaches to help you zero in on your core values. You might choose one method to start with right after reading this and then schedule the others you find appealing over the coming years, perhaps in six-month intervals. No matter your approach, you should probably find a way to keep revisiting your values on the radar somehow because it is extremely easy to lose sight of them in day-to-day life.

Approach 1 — Consult a Core Values List

This is perhaps the most popular method for identifying core values, and it’s the one I personally started with many years ago. The process is straightforward: find a comprehensive list of potential values, such as this one by Steve Pavlina or this slightly shorter one, and select the ones that resonate most with you. While this approach may be somewhat biased and might not yield the most thorough or deeply considered values, it’s a quick and accessible way to get started.

When I first used this method, I worked through it in iterations. I began by narrowing down the list to about 50 values that had any impact at all on me while reading them. Then, I reviewed the reduced list several times, gradually honing in on approximately ten core values. I also ranked them by priority so I'd know which ones to cross out if I ended up with more than ten.

Consulting a list of values is a useful way to begin mining your core values, especially at a surface level. While this method might not give you a final, definitive profile, it can help you identify a handful of your most apparent and immediate values.

Approach 2 — Brainstorming

This approach is, in many ways, the opposite of Approach 1. While it can be used as a starting point, I often recommend it for the second or third time you explore your core values. Begin with a blank page and brainstorm all the values that are important to you. Start by relying on memory alone, then expand your list by referencing your journal, daily notes, calendar, goals, or any other valuable documents or life protocols you follow.

Aim to list well over ten values initially—keep going until you can’t justify adding more. If you end up with fewer than 20, you might consider using a core values list, as in Approach 1, to explore additional possibilities. Once you have around 30 values, look for clusters or overlapping themes. Determine if any values are essentially the same, and if any are in conflict; if so, remove one. Finally, prioritize the remaining values and select the top 10 as your core values.

Approach 3 — Deep Contemplation

This method is one of the most advanced and requires serious introspection. Begin with a list of values you’ve previously identified (if you have one; otherwise, use another approach to generate it). Then, deeply contemplate each value with the goal of trying to refute it. Approach this like a detective determined to uncover why a particular value might not be a core value of yours after all. If you can’t find a reason to eliminate a value and it continues to resonate with you, you’ve likely identified a “sticker”—a value that is there to stay, one that sits close to your heart or “core.”

This process often can’t be completed in a single sitting, especially if you start with around ten values and discover that only half of them still or truly resonate with you. In that case, you’ll need to revisit some of the other approaches to identify the remaining core values. It’s helpful to reconsider values that didn’t make the cut in previous sessions, so be sure to keep all your notes and “mining artifacts,” not just the values that made it to your final list.

Of course, you don’t strictly need 10 values. That’s just a handy heuristic. If you find only five that truly resonate, you can stick with that or use a primary versus secondary setup where you define, say, five primary core values and another 10 or so that are “secondary” and “supportive.” In the end, it’s all up to you. The deep contemplation approach is the most likely to lead you to a very personal value profile, but it is, again, one of the trickiest.

Approach 4 — Reflection

This approach involves identifying objects, events, and people that you admire or that have deeply impacted you and then considering why they had such an effect.

One effective way to uncover your values is by collecting heroes. Learn about different people’s lives, identify those who inspire you, and explore what it is about them that resonates with you. When faced with a difficult decision, reflect on what your heroes might have done in a similar situation. These individuals are your heroes because they share your values. By asking which options would make your heroes proud, you’re also asking which options align with your deepest beliefs, potentially helping you zero in on a core value.

The same principle applies to objects and significant events in your life. If you can identify a truly special artifact or a particularly memorable event, you can delve into it to unearth a core value hidden within.

Approach 5 — Continuous Journaling

Approaches 1-4 assume that core values can be somewhat easily retrieved in one or a few one-off sessions, but that’s rarely the case. Often, our values are deeply embedded and take more time to uncover. That’s why I call it a process of “mining.”

Time becomes your ally in this process—the more you experience and learn about yourself, the clearer your values become. So, this last method is more long-term: Journal about your life each day or week, incorporating questions about your core values. Over time, a clearer picture will emerge, allowing you to refine your core values more precisely.

For example, consider following the “Topic Du Jour” method from Journal to the Self. In this method, you pick 31 topics and write a journal about them, one for each calendar day of each month. I use this method to start my days. I discovered 30 topics that are very important in my life, and I iterate through them every month. I am now in my sixth round of doing this and have come up with a few interesting things. Repurposing this method towards mining core values, you would tailor your topics and daily prompts toward discovering your core values, e.g., one day, you write about a person you admire, one day, you contemplate one of your existing values, and one day, you reflect on an important event in your life.

Conclusion

Understanding and clarifying your personal core value profile is not just an exercise in self-awareness—it’s a pathway to genuine fulfillment and success. By aligning your goals and actions with these values, you define what success truly means for you, leading to greater happiness and life satisfaction. Though uncovering your core values can be a complex and ongoing process, it’s essential for living an authentic and purpose-driven life. Whether you start with a list, brainstorm, reflect, or journal — now — right after reading this last sentence of this essay — is the perfect time to begin mining your core values and create a profile that resonates with who you are and who you truly want to be.