Values Worksheet - HealthSkills Blog



Values Worksheet

Values are a set of underlying principles and qualities that we use to decide what is and isn’t important in our life.

Principles: these are what we base decisions on e.g. having good family relationships, being honest, having purpose, being creative

Qualities: this is how we would like others to see us e.g. confident, a leader, empathic, committed

Before we can set a goal for your life, it helps to understand our values. Everyone has a different set of values, and ways in which the values can be carried out. Both values and the way we carry out values can shift and alter over a lifetime – values are like a compass, giving a general direction, while goals and actions are more like the pathways we take.

Another view of values is the river metaphor.

The direction of the river represents our values.

Provided that our river is heading in the direction of our values, life can still be fulfilling. The specific course we take is shaped by all those things that life throws us – and so some of us may meander down a creek-bed, others may meet a larger stream maybe influenced by other people, before returning to the main riverbed and the original direction we had chosen.

Pain can definitely influence the directions we take in life. It can mean different functional abilities, changed roles, leaving a job, getting involved with ACC and needing to spend time with health care providers.

This can, without meaning to, get in the way of living a life that is still moving towards things we value. Some values we hold conflict with trying to reduce pain, while others become more or less important because of the way pain affects life.

To live well despite having chronic pain, having goals that are in line with your values is vital. We don’t often think about what is important and why it is so important!

An exercise to identify your values

In this exercise, we’re going to decide which values are very important to you. Below is a list of values to get you started. To help you, think about what you would do with your life if I could wave a magic wand and all the pain, all the thoughts and feelings and memories you have about your pain would no longer have any impact on you. What would you do with your life? What would you start, stop, do more of, or less of? How would you behave differently? What would show the world that this magic had happened?

Don’t be limited by this list!

Affectionate

Ambitious

Appreciative

Brave

Calm

Caring

Cheerful

Committed

Compassionate

Concerned

Confident

Conscientious

Considerate

Contented

Cooperative

Couragous

Decisiveness

Dependability

Determination

Diligence

Discernment

Encouraging

Enthusiastic

Fairness

Faithfulness

Flexibility

Forgiveness

Generosity

Gentleness

Giving

Gratitude

Happiness

Helpfulness

Honest

Humble

Humorous

Impartial

Imaginative

Intelligent

Joyful

Kind

Leader

Logical

Loving

Loyal

Having manners

Maturity

Patient

Patriotic

Peaceful

Perseverance

Persistence

Persuasiveness

Pleasant

Polite

Positive

Rational

Reliable

Religious

Resourceful

Respect

Responsible

Security

Self-confident

Self-control

Sensitive

Sincerity

Successful

Tactful

Thankful

Thorough

Thrifty

Tolerant

Truthful

Unselfish

Versatile

Warm-hearted

Witty

My top five values and descriptive statements

Value Descriptive Personal Statement

Calm I remain calm even during difficult times

Family I honour and support my family to the best of my ability

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How to make choices about goals and actions based on values

When you have an opportunity in your life to make a choice about a goal or action, it can be difficult to decide what to do. Before you make a decision, review your top three values, then ask yourself:

Does this decision honour my value of ___________________________? (#1 value)

Does this decision honour my value of ___________________________? (#2 value)

Does this decision honour my value of ___________________________? (#3 value)

If the answer is ‘No’, then you will most probably not be happy in the long term choosing this goal or action.

What is the one thing I could do right now, today, to live more in alignment with my values?

Don’t be afraid to revisit your values – but not more than once a year.

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