Core Values Finder: Spin, React, and Discover What Matters to You
Sixty values, one at a time. Keep what feels like you, let go of what doesn’t, and leave with your top five.
Step 1 of 2
Spin to meet a value
Each spin lands on one value. Answer from the gut and keep the ones that feel like you.
Your shortlist 0
Values you keep land here.
60 Core Values, With Plain-English Definitions
Every value on the wheel, grouped so you can browse. Prefer reading to spinning? Tap + Keep on any value that fits and it joins your shortlist.
💛 Connection & care
- Kindness — being gentle and generous with people, including yourself.
- Family — showing up for the people you call home.
- Friendship — choosing your people and investing in them.
- Love — caring deeply and letting it show.
- Loyalty — standing by people and commitments when it is hard.
- Compassion — meeting pain, yours or anyone else’s, with care instead of judgement.
- Community — belonging to something bigger than you and helping it thrive.
- Generosity — giving time, attention or resources without keeping score.
- Belonging — feeling at home with others and making room for them.
- Gratitude — noticing what is good and saying so.
🌱 Growth & mastery
- Learning — staying a student of the world.
- Curiosity — asking why, then asking again.
- Growth — becoming a little more yourself each year.
- Excellence — doing things well because they deserve it.
- Wisdom — seeing the long view and acting on it.
- Courage — doing the right or scary thing anyway.
- Discipline — keeping the promises you make to yourself.
- Resilience — bending without breaking, and getting back up.
- Mastery — going deep on a craft until it is second nature.
- Ambition — reaching for more than is easy.
🧭 Freedom & adventure
- Freedom — having room to choose your own path.
- Adventure — seeking out the new, the wild and the unplanned.
- Independence — standing on your own two feet.
- Spontaneity — saying yes before you overthink it.
- Exploration — wanting to see what is around the next corner.
- Play — making room for fun with no purpose at all.
- Creativity — making things that did not exist before.
- Variety — keeping life from becoming the same day on repeat.
- Self-expression — letting who you are show.
- Humor — finding the funny, and sharing it.
🧱 Integrity & character
- Honesty — telling the truth, even when it costs you.
- Integrity — acting the same whether or not anyone is watching.
- Fairness — giving everyone the same shot.
- Responsibility — owning your choices and what they cause.
- Respect — treating people as if they matter, because they do.
- Humility — holding your views lightly and your lessons closely.
- Authenticity — being the same person on the inside and the outside.
- Trust — being reliable, and extending good faith to others.
- Justice — standing up for what is right, especially for others.
- Accountability — saying “that was me” and putting it right.
🌿 Calm & wellbeing
- Health — looking after the body and mind you live in.
- Balance — giving each part of life its fair share.
- Peace — protecting your calm and spreading it.
- Simplicity — wanting less, and enjoying it more.
- Rest — treating recovery as part of the work.
- Mindfulness — being where your feet are.
- Security — building a steady base for you and yours.
- Stability — preferring roots to constant change.
- Nature — feeling most like yourself outdoors.
- Patience — letting good things take the time they take.
🎯 Purpose & impact
- Purpose — knowing what you are here to do, and doing it.
- Contribution — leaving things better than you found them.
- Service — putting your skills to work for other people.
- Leadership — helping people move in a good direction.
- Spirituality — staying connected to something greater than yourself.
- Legacy — building something that outlasts you.
- Achievement — setting goals and reaching them.
- Recognition — wanting your work to be seen and valued.
- Influence — shaping how others think and act.
- Sustainability — living in a way the future can afford.
How to Find Your Core Values (and Actually Use Them)
Core values are the handful of principles you would keep even when they cost you something. They are not goals, which you can finish, and they are not the qualities you think you ought to admire. They are a description of how you live when you are at your best, and that is why they make such a good filter for decisions: when two options look equally good on paper, the one that honours your values is usually the one you will be glad you chose.
The trouble is that most values exercises hand you a list of fifty words and ask you to rank them. Ranking abstract nouns is exhausting, and it tends to produce the answers that sound right rather than the ones that are true. Almost everybody ranks honesty, family and health near the top, because who wouldn’t? This finder works the other way round: it shows you one value at a time and asks for a quick, honest reaction.
How to use the Core Values Finder
- Spin the wheel. Click the wheel, tap SPIN, or press Enter. It lands on one value and shows what it means.
- React from the gut. Choose That’s me, Sometimes or Not really. Don’t deliberate; your first reaction is the useful one.
- Build a shortlist. Keep spinning until you have eight to fifteen values, or tap + Keep on any value in the list below.
- Narrow to your top five. Pick the values you would protect even when it costs you time, money or comfort.
- Put them to work. Copy them, then use them to weigh your next real decision on the homepage values tool.
Why one at a time works better than ranking
When you see a single value with a plain definition, you are answering a simple question: does this sound like me? That is far easier than comparing sixty things at once, and it lets your instinct do some of the work. Values you mark Sometimes are not thrown away. They go to the back of the queue and come round again later, and a second look often settles them.
The wheel also keeps you honest. You can’t skip to the flattering values, because you don’t choose what comes up next. Many people are surprised by what they keep: a value they never would have picked from a list, like play or simplicity, turns out to be the thread that runs through their best days.
Three questions that sharpen your shortlist
- When were you proudest of how you handled something? Not what you achieved, but how you behaved. The values you were living in that moment are strong candidates.
- What reliably makes your blood boil? Frustrations are often values being stepped on. If unfairness drives you up the wall, fairness probably belongs on your list.
- What would you want people to say at your 90th birthday? The qualities you hope to be remembered for point straight at what matters to you.
Values, goals and “shoulds”
A goal is something you can tick off, like running a 10K or saving for a trip. A value is a direction you never reach the end of, like health or adventure. Good goals are usually one way of living a value, which is why the same value can produce very different goals at different stages of life.
Watch out for “shoulds”. If a value feels like something you think a good person ought to hold, rather than something you actually live by, mark it Sometimes and see whether it survives the second round. Core values are descriptive, not a performance for anyone else.
How many core values should you have?
Three to five. Fewer than three tends to miss whole areas of your life, while more than five stops being useful as a filter, because nearly every option will honour one of them. If you finish with more than five on your shortlist, the finder asks you to choose the ones you would defend first.
Put your values to work
Knowing your values only matters if they change what you do. The next time you are torn, list your options and ask how well each one honours your top values. Our values-weighted wheel on the homepage does exactly that: rate each option against what matters, and the options that fit best get bigger slices and better odds. For quick calls, a yes or no wheel works too, as long as you notice how you feel when it lands.
Values also make good writing prompts. Turn on the Values theme in our journal prompt generator and spin for questions like “Which of your choices this week matched what you care about?”
Your values can shift as your life does. Security might lead while you are raising a young family; adventure or contribution might lead later. Revisit them once a year. This page remembers your last result on this device, so you can compare.
Core Values: Frequently Asked Questions
What are core values?
Core values are the handful of principles that guide how you live and decide, the things you would keep even when they cost you something. Honesty, family, freedom and growth are common examples. Most values exercises suggest settling on three to five.
How do I find my core values?
Look at the moments you felt proudest and most alive, notice what reliably frustrates you, and react to values one at a time instead of ranking a long list. This finder does the last part for you: spin, keep the values that feel like you, then narrow your shortlist to the five you would protect first.
How many core values should I have?
Three to five is the usual recommendation. Fewer than three tends to miss important parts of your life, and more than five stops being useful as a filter for decisions, because almost every option will honour at least one of them.
What are some examples of personal core values?
Common examples include honesty, kindness, family, freedom, health, growth, creativity, security, adventure, fairness and purpose. The list on this page has sixty, each with a one-line definition.
Can your core values change over time?
Yes. Your deepest values tend to be stable, but their order often shifts with life stages: security might lead while raising a young family, and adventure or contribution later on. Revisiting them once a year is a good habit.
What is the difference between values and goals?
A goal is something you can finish, like running a marathon or saving for a trip. A value is a direction you never reach the end of, like health or adventure. Good goals are usually one way of living out a value.
How do I use my core values to make decisions?
Treat them as a filter. List your options, ask how well each one honours your top values, and favour the ones that score best. The values tool on our homepage does this with a wheel: your values set the odds, and a spin breaks the tie.
Is this core values test private?
Yes. Everything happens in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere. When you finish, your top values are saved only on this device so you can see them next time, and Start over clears them.