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My Personal Values in Life

• Categories: Values of Life

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Words: 773 |

Published: Jan 31, 2024

Words: 773 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, body paragraph 1: personal value 1, body paragraph 2: personal value 2, body paragraph 3: personal value 3, counterargument.

• Adler, M. J. (2000). The four dimensions of philosophy: Metaphysical, moral, objective, categorical. Routledge.
• Miller, W. R., & Thoresen, C. E. (2003). Spirituality, religion, and health: An emerging research field. American Psychologist, 58(1), 24-35.
• Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford University Press.

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Essays About Values: 5 Essay Examples Plus 10 Prompts

Similar to how our values guide us, let this guide with essays about values and writing prompts help you write your essay.

Values are the core principles that guide the actions we take and the choices we make. They are the cornerstones of our identity. On a community or organizational level, values are the moral code that every member must embrace to live harmoniously and work together towards shared goals. 

We acquire our values from different sources such as parents, mentors, friends, cultures, and experiences. All of these build on one another — some rejected as we see fit — for us to form our perception of our values and what will lead us to a happy and fulfilled life.

5 Essay Examples

1. what today’s classrooms can learn from ancient cultures by linda flanagan, 2. stand out to your hiring panel with a personal value statement by maggie wooll, 3. make your values mean something by patrick m. lencioni, 4. how greed outstripped need by beth azar, 5. a shift in american family values is fueling estrangement by joshua coleman, 1. my core values, 2. how my upbringing shaped my values, 3. values of today’s youth, 4. values of a good friend, 5. an experience that shaped your values, 6. remembering our values when innovating, 7. important values of school culture, 8. books that influenced your values, 9. religious faith and moral values, 10. schwartz’s theory of basic values.

“Connectedness is another core value among Maya families, and teachers seek to cultivate it… While many American teachers also value relationships with their students, that effort is undermined by the competitive environment seen in many Western classrooms.”

Ancient communities keep their traditions and values of a hands-off approach to raising their kids. They also preserve their hunter-gatherer mindsets and others that help their kids gain patience, initiative, a sense of connectedness, and other qualities that make a helpful child.

“How do you align with the company’s mission and add to its culture? Because it contains such vital information, your personal value statement should stand out on your resume or in your application package.”

Want to rise above other candidates in the jobs market? Then always highlight your value statement. A personal value statement should be short but still, capture the aspirations and values of the company. The essay provides an example of a captivating value statement and tips for crafting one.

“Values can set a company apart from the competition by clarifying its identity and serving as a rallying point for employees. But coming up with strong values—and sticking to them—requires real guts.”

Along with the mission and vision, clear values should dictate a company’s strategic goals. However, several CEOs still needed help to grasp organizational values fully. The essay offers a direction in setting these values and impresses on readers the necessity to preserve them at all costs. 

“‘He compared the values held by people in countries with more competitive forms of capitalism with the values of folks in countries that have a more cooperative style of capitalism… These countries rely more on strategic cooperation… rather than relying mostly on free-market competition as the United States does.”

The form of capitalism we have created today has shaped our high value for material happiness. In this process, psychologists said we have allowed our moral and ethical values to drift away from us for greed to take over. You can also check out these essays about utopia .

“From the adult child’s perspective, there might be much to gain from an estrangement: the liberation from those perceived as hurtful or oppressive, the claiming of authority in a relationship, and the sense of control over which people to keep in one’s life. For the mother or father, there is little benefit when their child cuts off contact.”

It is most challenging when the bonds between parent and child weaken in later years. Psychologists have been navigating this problem among modern families, which is not an easy conflict to resolve. It requires both parties to give their best in humbling themselves and understanding their loved ones, no matter how divergent their values are. 

10 Writing  Prompts On Essays About Values

For this topic prompt, contemplate your non-negotiable core values and why you strive to observe them at all costs. For example, you might value honesty and integrity above all else. Expound on why cultivating fundamental values leads to a happy and meaningful life. Finally, ponder other values you would like to gain for your future self. Write down how you have been practicing to adopt these aspired values. 

Many of our values may have been instilled in us during childhood. This essay discusses the essential values you gained from your parents or teachers while growing up. Expound on their importance in helping you flourish in your adult years. Then, offer recommendations on what households, schools, or communities can do to ensure that more young people adopt these values.

Is today’s youth lacking essential values, or is there simply a shift in what values generations uphold? Strive to answer this and write down the healthy values that are emerging and dying. Then think of ways society can preserve healthy values while doing away with bad ones. Of course, this change will always start at home, so also encourage parents, as role models, to be mindful of their words, actions and behavior.  

The greatest gift in life is friendship. In this essay, enumerate the top values a friend should have. You may use your best friend as an example. Then, cite the best traits your best friend has that have influenced you to be a better version of yourself. Finally, expound on how these values can effectively sustain a healthy friendship in the long term. 

We all have that one defining experience that has forever changed how we see life and the values we hold dear. Describe yours through storytelling with the help of our storytelling guide . This experience may involve a decision, a conversation you had with someone, or a speech you heard at an event.  

With today’s innovation, scientists can make positive changes happen. But can we truly exercise our values when we fiddle with new technologies whose full extent of positive and adverse effects we do not yet understand such as AI? Contemplate this question and look into existing regulations on how we curb the creation or use of technologies that go against our values. Finally, assess these rules’ effectiveness and other options society has. 

Highlight a school’s role in honing a person’s values. Then, look into the different aspects of your school’s culture. Identify which best practices distinct in your school are helping students develop their values. You could consider whether your teachers exhibit themselves as admirable role models or specific parts of the curriculum that help you build good character. 

In this essay, recommend your readers to pick up your favorite books, particularly those that served as pathways to enlightening insights and values. To start, provide a summary of the book’s story. It would be better if you could do so without revealing too much to avoid spoiling your readers’ experience. Then, elaborate on how you have applied the values you learned from the book.

For many, religious faith is the underlying reason for their values. For this prompt, explore further the inextricable links between religion and values. If you identify with a certain religion, share your thoughts on the values your sector subscribes to. You can also tread the more controversial path on the conflicts of religious values with socially accepted beliefs or practices, such as abortion. 

Dive deeper into the ten universal values that social psychologist Shalom Schwartz came up with: power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security. Look into their connections and conflicts against each other. Then, pick your favorite value and explain how you relate to it the most. Also, find if value conflicts within you, as theorized by Schwartz.

Make sure to check out our round-up of the best essay checkers . If you want to use the latest grammar software, read our guide on using an AI grammar checker .

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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• Essay on People

Free Core Values Essay Example

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: People , Value , Integrity , Authenticity , Life , Goals , Courage , Compassion

Published: 12/05/2021

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Core values

Core values are principles that guide the behavior of people and also supports the goals and purpose of an individual. They usually define who the person is. They are necessary virtues that guide people in achieving their visions and missions. Different people have different core values that assist them in their respective areas of duty. I have different core values that define who I am. Core values cannot be helpful to a person unless they maintain the integrity with them. I have been able to achieve different goals and targets because of living a life that is aligned with my core values. Core values enable people to have meaningful lives, thereby giving them the feeling of satisfaction that comes when one achieves the goals and mission. The most important personal values I observe are integrity, authenticity, courage, compassion, truthfulness, and trust. My first core value is integrity. It is a quality that enables people to live with honest and observing strong moral values. It allows me to maintain upright morals and good ethical standards in whatever I do. Standing by the value of integrity is hard. For that reason, I treat integrity as the only option. It acts as an internal compass that directs the person to the right directing whatever he or she is doing. The other core value I observe is authenticity. Through this value, I live genuinely by being honest with me. It helps me accept my limits, knowing what I’m capable of and what I’m not capable of doing. It is a significant value since it helps me abide by other core values by being aligned with them. There are many ways through which I enhance the authenticity virtue. It is possible through being courageous to self-disclose what I can, being transparent, and gauging myself to know my limits. Courage is the other value that is associated with authenticity. With courage, you do everything without fears of what other people may think of you. It helps me take risks and doing what I think is integral to me. Compassion is the fourth core value I observe. Being kind and sensitive to other people is important. Understanding people and being empathetic to them during problems increases the chances of the same people helping you during the problem. People usually forget what you say, but they will never forget what you do. Therefore, compassion helps to perform good deeds for other people. The said core values have different roles they play in my life, although they assist in one goal that is self-development. I live by my values in everything I do. By so doing, I always find myself mostly doing the right thing. I am always constantly principled with making a change in my life, and this becomes the critical reasons why I adopted the said core values. Core values are not permanent and are sometimes broken depending on the circumstances. Values are not laws and are not enforceable hence I can at some situations break them. Some situations can make me reconsider my core values or at some stages change them. In the case where I am involved in crime, and there is the possibility of facing conviction, I will be forced to reconsider some of the values. For instance, it can be a situation whereby if you tell the truth, you will be found guilty, the only option will be going against the value of integrity to avoid the sentence. That is an example of a situation where I will reconsider my values.

Dennis, S. (2012). The Strength perspective in social work practice. Pearson Higher Ed. Jerzy, S. (2007). Core Values and Cultural Identity. Ethnic and racial studies, 4(1), 75-90. Shalom, S., & Vittorio, G. (2010). Basic Personal Values, Core Political Values, and Voting: Longitudinal Analysis. Political Psychology, 31(3), 421-452. Wreight, M. (2015). Personal core values. Retrieved from The integrity coach: www.theintrgrity coach.com?personal-core-values

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Essay about My Core Values

What makes people stand out amongst their peers and colleges? What helps people make tough real time decisions based on what they think is the right move? An answer to those questions is someone’s core values. Core values are a set of personal beliefs that people find more important to other beliefs in their everyday lives. After looking at a few different examples I have determined that the core values most important to me is honesty, passionate, benevolence, mindfulness, and open-mindedness. In the following text I will be breaking down why I chose these core values over others, as well as showing you how they stack up the United States Air Forces’ core values are.

To start things off, I would like to discuss each individual value that I chose and why it is important to me. The first core value that I selected was honesty. To me honesty is telling the truth no matter the situation. If someone is known to be not honest then more often then not people will not trust that individual and in my opinion that reputation follows people for an exceptionally long time unless they find a way to correct their wrongs. Another reason why I chose honesty would be because of the lessons taught to me by my grandfather as I was growing up. He would always say “A man is not judged by the contents of his pockets, but rather his word”. When I would first here that I did not really realize what he meant. As I got older though, I began to see real world examples of how people have all kinds of money, but no one trusted a single thing they said or did. This core value can be compared to the Air Force’s core value of integrity first. Reason being both values are about being honest with yourself and those around you. If you are honest about both the good and the bad sides of every situation, people take note of that and even if the situation seems grim, people will still remember that you were honest, and they will have trust in your word. With that being said, I also think that honesty and integrity first can also differ in a way. The textbook definition of honesty is to tell the truth and being true, while integrity is having strong moral principles based on honesty. So, integrity is being true and faithful to a moral code, while honesty is only a belief that someone can chose to follow. My core value is directly tied in with the Air Force’s core values in more ways than one. I believe by being honest with those around me and being honest with myself, I am directly following the core values.

The second word that I picked is passionate. I really like the word passionate because when used it shows that not only does someone care, but they are putting their heart and soul to what they are trying to achieve. This value is important to be because my family did not make a lot of money as I grew up, so they had to be very proficient at their jobs. Over the years they began to raise through the ranks and had each gained a reputation for not only being hard workers, but also undoubtedly reliable. As I got older and I began to help with simple household chores, my parents had taught me that if you are passionate and put your heart and mind into the task you are working on, you will make sure to complete the task to the best of your ability. I think that is value can go hand and hand with the Air Force’s core values of excellence in all we do, as well as service before self. It compares to these two values because to be passionate with your work means you are giving all your effort to ensure that the task gets done to the best of your ability and you are putting less important issues to the side to complete the task at hand. As much as these values go along with the Air Force’s core values, I think it differs in a couple ways. First reason being that Air Force’s core values talk about doing whatever it takes to ensure the mission gets done. I personally believe that if you are passionate with the people around you rather than specifically for the mission, than the mission will inevitably still get done and people will be more likely to spread that mindset to those around them. I plan on aligning this value with the Air Force’s core values by teaching it to my future airmen and telling them the importance of being passionate with their work. I think by doing that, it will set them up for success and they will have a larger impact on the day-to-day duties and responsibilities. 

The third value on my list is benevolence. I had to look at this word for a little while to understand that it directly correlates with my personal beliefs. Based on the overall mindset I have for how to treat others I would say that this value is an important value in my day to day. It is important to me because I think that if everyone in the world would preform at least one random act of kindness every day, the world would be a better place. Often my wife must stop me from doing certain things, such as buying gifts or trying to plan a special surprise for someone. I was always told that sometimes all it takes is something positive to happen to someone to keep them from going over the edge. This compares to the Air Force’s core values due to the fact it has to do with service before self. I personally they both touch on the fact that sometimes doing something you do not want to do will bring light to someone else’s day whether you realize it or not. I think they differ because the Air Force’s core value is not instilling people to do kind things for each other out of compassion, but rather the thought of being rewarded in some way. I do not agree with that since I never expect any kind of reward or recognition when I help someone or act kindly to those around me. My value is directly aligned with the Air Force’s core values because one could argue that due to the fact benevolence could go along with service before self.

The fourth value that stood out to me would be mindfulness. Much like anything having to do with my job and overall, the people around me, I must pay attention to how I word things or say my thoughts. This means a lot to me because it shows that you take the time to know those around you and you can be always professional. I think this can directly compare the Air Force’s core values, especially the service before self, due to people coming from different backgrounds, religions, and cultures being able to set aside any differences to accomplish the mission. In order to do this people will have to remain open minded to those differences so they do not overstep or even offend someone. I think this value also slightly contrasts the Air Force’s core values because the values do not actually tell people to be mindful of others, but rather just provide additional training on the subject later. My value directly goes along with the Air Force core values by being mindful of those around me, it encompasses the value of service before self by showing that our differences do not matter if we can work together and be respectful of our differences.

 The last value on my list is open-mindedness. This value is important to me because I know what it is like to not work with someone who is not open-minded. It makes everything more difficult than it should be, and mishaps can happen due to not learning from past mistakes. I must remain open minded to different ideas and opinions. I would say that I consider myself to always be in the middle when it comes to choices or creating an opinion. One thing that I do that I take great pride in, is that if I do not agree with someone about something, I will always challenge them or give them an opportunity to show me the other side of the discussion. This value compares to the Air Force core values because we are expected to always be looking for newer and better ways to run our daily operations. I would also say that it can differ due to the Air Force’s core values do not always preach for us to change or update certain practices or ways of operating. I am always open to criticism and feedback to make sure that I am performing at the appropriate level.  I feel as though this value directly aligns with the Air Force’s core values because to be open-minded is to be selfless, and this helps with improving our fighting force every day. 

In conclusion these are some of the more important values in my day-to-day life. I feel as though they can directly tie into the Air Force’s core values due to them being open to interpretation. These values play a particularly important part of who I am and how I go about making decisions daily. I like to incorporate the Air Force’s core values every day, but I do not think they cover every single area of though or importance. I hope this helped you see a little bit about me and the values I have above the rest. I appreciate you reading this and I look forward to the remainder of the class to help me improve not only my leadership abilities, but make me a better person overall.

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Reflecting on Our Core Values

In an earlier article , I shared an exercise that I did with my team, an exercise to identify and share our core values. The exercise was inspired by Brené Brown's book Dare to Lead . The goal was to improve our self-awareness and, by sharing our core values with our colleagues, foster understanding and encourage the psychological safety that is an essential element of a high-performing team.

As Brené writes:

"If we don't make our values priorities, we can't ask others to do it for us." —Brené Brown

When we explicitly identify our core values, we can look for leadership opportunities that resonate with these values. In expressing our values to our colleagues, our colleagues can support us in our values. The impact on our work is more alignment, less conflict, improved understanding, lasting connection, and greater purpose.

Even if we identify a value as a strong driver, not all of our values are core values. Some values can be aspirational, tied to our aspirations, or the aspirations of others. Other values can be associated with judgement, either from judging ourselves, or in feeling judgement from others. When our values are applied in the wrong context, they can be in conflict with our work. It is also important to ask the question, "Is there a difference between our work values and our personal values?"

When there is misalignment in our values, or when we are driven more by shame, judgement, or aspirations, we may not always be true to our core values. This is an essay about reflecting on our values to understand what drives them—including aspirations, judgements, context, and our work—in order to separate our core values from these other strong drivers.

Aspirational Values

Most people will identify with a few values that are aspirational. Some of our values just take a very long time to develop. For example, a young person may value wealth , financial stability , or job security , but these are things that can take decades to achieve. Other aspirational values are values that one can never achieve. Excellence and knowledge can fall into this category. Once a person has achieved a certain level of excellence or knowledge, that person may crave a new level of excellence, or even more knowledge, unsatisfied with their current level, even if it is impressive to others. Aspirational values are values that you are always striving towards, no matter what you have accomplished in the past.

From the perspective of someone hoping to eventually have children, values like family or future generations are aspirational, whereas someone who holds a connection to their family or mentoring future generations as a core value—something important to them day in and day out—would not view the same values as aspirational. Giving back is similar. For some people, it might be aspirational—they hope that one day they will have the financial means or independence to give back. For others, it will be a core value: they will need to give back on an ongoing basis, as a means to feel fulfilled.

Some aspirational values are related to ideals that people feel a connection to, but wish they were more dedicated to. Things like health , financial stability , self-discipline , or giving back . They might know what to do to eat healthily and exercise, or spend their money wisely and save for their goals, but they may never truly live up to these values, making decisions that, in hindsight, are not aligned with these values. Because these values are things that people feel like they should be doing, rather than things that they are doing, makes them aspirational, and not core values. When exploring your values, resist holding on to words that resemble something you've been coached to be, or values that never felt true to you.

Most people will associate a few of their values with judgement. This is noteworthy, but not surprising. The specific values that one associates with judgement will vary from person to person, but the emotions they evoke will be similar. For instance, I already mentioned health as an aspirational value, but it can also be a value filled with judgement for someone who is trying to be healthier, but failing. The judgement can be compounded if you are perceived by others as being dedicated to your health, while struggling with the shame of trying to keep various eating habits, exercise routines, self-destructive thoughts, or even substance abuse, your personal secret.

Judgement can be connected with values like achievement , career , legacy , parenting , self-discipline , success , and wealth . For example, feeling like your parents or siblings are judging you because you never finished university and have not been as successful as your older sister, who is a distinguished doctor, lawyer, or engineer.

Self-discipline is a value I identified with. It is also a value to which I attached some judgement. I was raised in a country and a culture heavily influenced by Protestant values, so values like hard work, discipline, frugality, and a stiff-upper-lip are connected with respect, success, and social acceptance. Even the ability to show self-restraint in the expression of emotion can be an important value in these cultures. Learning to control our emotions and keep our true feelings opaque, or even display an emotion that is the opposite of what we are really feeling, becomes part of maturing from a child into an adult.

There were two values on Brené's list that I did not identify with, but I did associate judgement: personal fulfilment and self-respect . I thought, "Who wouldn't be true to these values, especially at work?" I did not identify them in my list of values because I take them as a given. To me, they are fundamental. I realize other people are coming from different experiences and perspectives. People may be focusing on improving their self-respect after struggling with feelings of not being smart enough, successful enough, good enough, or slim enough; or focusing on their personal fulfilment after years of putting other people first. Whether you identify strongly with values like personal fulfilment or self-respect , or consider them a given, one judgement that I think is fair to make: If you are not being true to these values, something is not right, and eventually needs to change.

We will often feel conflicted by values associated with judgement. These values are more about how others perceive us, or how we want to be perceived by others, rather than how we fundamentally perceive ourselves. There can also be some aspirational aspects to these values, like wanting to be healthier, or striving to have more self-discipline. While the values that we associate with judgement are not our core values, they can still be very strong drivers of our behaviours. To develop more understanding, there is a lot of value in identifying them and sharing them with other people whom we feel safe with.

Values in Context

Context matters when considering our expectations of values. For example, Tom Brady is the six-time Super-Bowl-winning quarterback of the New England Patriots. His coach for all of those wins was Bill Belichick. If you heard that Brady or Belichick had the core values success , achievement , being the best , ambition , or confidence , you would not be surprised. But if someone you work with expressed these same core values, it might result in distrust and disconnection, unless you see these values balanced with other values like team work , community , trust , and loyalty . [1] You might be suspicious that the person is driven by ego, title, compensation, and competition, and that they would hang you out to dry in an instant, if it helped them get ahead. As my colleague said to me, "It would be reasonable for Brady and Belichick to have those core values: Their goal is to win the Super Bowl every year. Winning the Super Bowl, annually, is not the goal of most engineering teams."

Changing context, I am willing to bet that Brady and Belichick would say that being the best , success , achievement , legacy , are elusive values that they are constantly striving towards, but not values that they have ever achieved, unconditionally. My guess is that for them, these are aspirational values, rather than core values. If these were core values, they would probably feel more complete, and they would not have been so wildly successful, so consistently, for so long. I imagine their core values are values like ambition , commitment , excellence , leadership , learning , dedication , and perseverance .

When our core values are discordant with our context, it can make us unhappy and unproductive. Reflecting on discordant values can help us identify values or contexts that we want to change or evolve. Which brings me to my final reflection on our values: our work values and our personal values, and what to do when they are not aligned.

Work Values and Personal Values

Brené writes that she is often asked, "Do you want me to identify my professional values or my personal values?" Since I used this as a team-building exercise, I asked my colleagues to identify the values that are most important to them in their work. However, it was immediately clear that everyone's core values went well beyond their work and were values of great importance to everything in their life.

We only have one set of values. They do not change based on context, even if some values are expressed more prominently. This does not mean that we are always living or working in a way that is aligned with these values. Whenever our work is in conflict with our values, we must seek change, either by actively evolving our work or our organizations, or recognizing that the two are incompatible, and moving on to a new opportunity that is more aligned with our values.

Integrity is choosing courage over comfort; it's choosing what's right over what's fun, fast, or easy; and it's practicing your values, not just professing them. —Brené Brown

When our values and our work are not aligned, it can lead to intense feelings of frustration, anger, disconnection, and even depression. If we are not explicitly aware of our values, we may not even know why we are experiencing these strong feelings. But when we have identified the values that drive us, we can see when our work and our values are misaligned, and take concrete steps to remedy the situation. We can use techniques like Nonviolent Communication to make specific requests to address our needs. This is empowering and can keep destructive emotions and behaviours at bay.

The following questions from Brené's book can help us reflect on the impact of our core values on our work:

• What are behaviours that support your core values at work?
• What is a slippery behaviour that makes you feel like you are living outside your values at work?

When someone shares their values with you, you want to understand the reasoning, motivation, reactions, and guiding principles behind those values. As much as possible, avoid your own interpretations and focus on listening for deeper meaning. As a leader with a deeper understanding and connection—a manager, a mentor, a teammate, a friend—we can then guide and support our colleagues in their values, and they can do the same for us.

Even if you are conflicted in your values at work, as long as you have awareness, you can choose to sit with this conflict, without it becoming destructive. For instance, maybe inclusiveness or diversity is one of your values and you are not satisfied with the spectrum of representation in your organization. If you have tried to improve the situation and you are not seeing any progress, obstructed by a culture that is resisting change, it may be time to move on to resolve this conflict. But even if you are seeing slow but steady progress, you can appreciate the impact of living into your values over the long-term.

The more we are able to connect our feelings to our own needs, the easier it is for others to respond compassionately. —Marshall Rosenberg

Identifying our core values and sharing them with others is a powerful exercise. Interpreting when a value is aspirational or involves judgement can help differentiate key drivers that do not rise to the level of core values. Appreciating the context in which we are applying our values can help us identify conflicts. Understanding that there is no distinction between our work values and our personal values can help us find work that we are passionate about and identify our opportunities for leadership.

Developing our awareness of our values can help us be true to our values, reducing conflict, providing agency, and making our work more enjoyable and fulfilling. Developing an understanding for the values of our colleagues means we can support each other in our shared or complimentary values, and it provides the foundations for a psychologically-safe and high-performing team.

If you try this exercise, either personally or with your team, please let me know how it goes.

No doubt, team work , community , trust , and loyalty are values that also bring balance for Brady or Belichick within a game, a practice, or a season. ↩︎

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How to Focus on Your Values in Your Personal Statement

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by CEG Essay Specialist Kaila Barber in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered: 

Identifying your own values, demonstrate your values with examples.

• Reflecting on Your Experiences

It’s important to keep in mind what your reader is hoping to learn from your personal statement. The statement is an opportunity to reflect on your experiences and demonstrate how you think about and relate to the world around you. Specifically, what are some of your values? What’s meaningful to you? What do you find important? 

Personal values can be things like communication, patience, nature, health, personal development, courage, self-love, authenticity, healthy boundaries, or even humor. Before you start drafting your personal statement, take a moment to reflect on the things that you find important and why. 

We’re all very different people coming from different backgrounds, and we have different experiences that impact our individual values. While some of your values will overlap with those of other people, your personal reflection on the values that resonate most with you will separate your statement from someone else’s. 

The best way to include your values, skills, and traits in your essay is to pair them with specific examples and anecdotes. Each anecdote should align with at least one of the values that you find most important and should be accompanied by your personal reflection on the value and its related experience. 

Here’s an example. A student does not have a parent or guardian around to shoulder the expenses of caring for them and their younger sibling. In their outline, the student says that they value autonomy, financial stability, and family. Throughout the essay, they demonstrate these values by talking about getting a part-time job to help support the family and caring for their sibling at home. They also excel academically and even petition to have an AP Physics II course offered at their school. 

The student has shown autonomy by taking the initiative to petition for the new course and by getting a job. They have also demonstrated that both financial stability and family are important to them by pitching in to support their parent and sibling.

Your examples should show your reader your values by being specific and personal to your background and experiences.

Reflecting on Your Experiences 

Reflecting on your values is an equally important part of the personal statement. Your reflections or insight should focus on not only your experiences but also who you are and who you want to become. The insight you include in your essay shows that you’ve really found meaning from your personal experiences.

Insight can take a few forms. A common way to show insight is by writing about a growth experience. Show how you went from point A in your life to point B, and share the lessons you’ve learned along the way. For example, people often reflect on how navigating a strenuous activity or challenge changed the way that they thought about themselves and what they could handle. Reflecting on that change in confidence is one way to demonstrate insight.

One of the clearest ways to explore insight is to self-reflect and write about how something has either connected you to, influenced, or reframed how you think of your own values. Maybe you once pushed yourself too hard, and that experience showed you the value of rest and mindfulness. Or perhaps a change in circumstances shifted or redefined your values to an extent. 

For example, a person might say that while they craved stability as a child because of their home life, they now see the value of risk-taking and adventure in enriching their own knowledge and experiences. In this example, both security and risk are important to the speaker, but their experiences ultimately shifted weight from one value to another.

Regardless of how you approach your personal statement, insight is the overarching meaning that you take away from the relevant experiences and values you’ve shared.

Are you looking for more guidance as you draft your personal statement? Check out this post on how to come up with a strong topic that wows your admissions reader!

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Core Values in Personal Belief System Essay

Although a number of values shape my life, there are five values that are very important to me. These are my core values and include happiness, family, friends, pleasure and financial security and stability. I received these values from my parents and major events that have shaped my life. Additionally, these values dictate my daily activities and how I relate to people in the society. For that reason, my core values signify things that outline my life. I will be discussing who I am in terms of important values that shape my personal belief system and decision-making framework that describes the direction of my life.

The key to happiness is maximizing pleasure and reducing pain. Happiness is an indication that my life has a meaning and that I can accomplish my goals. The pleasant moods and emotions brought about by happiness are very important to me. However, I must fulfill most of my aspirations in order to live a happy life. Therefore, the more desires I fulfill, the happier my life will be. Moreover, happier people are physically and mentally healthier. Consequently, happiness gives me the necessary strength and right frame of mind to face life. Happiness, hence, drives my success. As a result, my life becomes more satisfying.

A family brings about a feeling of being wanted and connected to my close confidants. Therefore, a family is very important to me. This is because I have people around me who I can look up to in times of happiness and sorrow. In this context, a family is not only my kinsmen but also people I can closely relate to. It will be very difficult for me to succeed without people who care and trust me. In addition, a family will take pride in my success and encourage me when I am down and out. Moreover, with my nuclear family close, I am guaranteed of a loyal support. For that reason, I believe that I am who I am because of my family.

Having friends will always be in the list of my core values. To me, friends create a social bond which has many advantages. To start with, friends help me overcome and interpret challenges. In addition, I continuously learn a lot of new things from friends. For instance, I discover new survival tactics in the various traits displayed by my friends. Moreover, friends help me socialize. This is advantageous to me because socializing offers some emotional support to me. Consequently, stress and depression associated with loneliness are not in my dictionary. Friends, therefore, help me cope with life in the best way possible.

As a human being, I seek satisfaction in all my undertakings. Pleasure, as a core value, is all about satisfaction. Moreover, pleasure generates happiness in me. For that reason, I am able to face life as a more contented person. However, not all things derive pleasure to me. Therefore, I prioritize my daily activities depending on the pleasure generated. This helps me live a more focused and efficient life. Pleasure, therefore, brings out the best in me. It makes me work very hard towards achieving my lifetime goals.

Financial security and stability is also very important value to me. Although money cannot buy happiness, it brings about contentment. God will only cater for my needs if I work towards my financial security and stability. This is because I need money to cater for my bills. This means that my survival solely depends on my finances. Additionally, financial security will enable me enjoy the good things of life and deal with emergencies. As a result, I will be able to live a happy and stable life. Financial stability will also help me have a fruitful life after retirement. Therefore, my life will never be the same again without this core value.

None of my core values can act independently. The interaction among the five core values is what dictates who I am. These values determine how I interact with other people and which strategies I apply in life. They are truly what drive my life forward. Therefore, knowing and acknowledging my core values brings about satisfaction in me. Furthermore, these core values also help me design my lifetime goals. They, thus, help dictate the direction my life will take.

In conclusion, I agree that values are important to my life. However, my core values mean a lot to me. My core values include happiness, family, friends, pleasure and financial security and stability. The pleasant moods and emotions brought about by happiness are very important to me. In additionally, a family brings a feeling of being wanted and connected to my close confidants. Furthermore, friends help me overcome and interpret challenges in life. Moreover, Pleasure generates satisfaction and happiness in me. Finally, financial stability and security brings about contentment in me. However, none of these values can act alone. Therefore, I require the right mix of these values in order to live a successful life.

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IvyPanda. (2021, April 9). Core Values in Personal Belief System. https://ivypanda.com/essays/core-values-in-personal-belief-system/

"Core Values in Personal Belief System." IvyPanda , 9 Apr. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/core-values-in-personal-belief-system/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Core Values in Personal Belief System'. 9 April.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Core Values in Personal Belief System." April 9, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/core-values-in-personal-belief-system/.

1. IvyPanda . "Core Values in Personal Belief System." April 9, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/core-values-in-personal-belief-system/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Core Values in Personal Belief System." April 9, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/core-values-in-personal-belief-system/.

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Core Values Personal Essay Example

Whether one can identify them or not, everyone has values that they live by and relate with. These values and beliefs shape a person’s character, from the way they hold themselves, interact with others, and what their motivations are. My values come from my upbringing, and strongly reflect the values of my parents, and of others close to me. Things like my schooling, living in China, and my bond with my family also determine what aspects of life I deem as the most important. These values undoubtedly reflect my actions, and throughout my life, I have found that the core values which influence me the most are learning, venturing, and familial relationships. 

I consider learning and accumulating knowledge to be a very important value to me. The act of learning is a constant in any aspect of life, and it allows me to be as prepared and qualified as possible to handle various situations. It is also something that brings me a sense of productivity and accomplishment, which is beneficial to my mental health. This value presents itself in my life when maintaining my proficiency in the languages I speak. Due to the fact that I have much less exposure to French and Mandarin, I work very hard to make sure I do not lose my ability to speak these languages. I like to learn passively as much as possible, meaning that I will read books, listen to music, or watch shows in my target language rather than traditional forms of language study. This means that not only am I subjected to different languages, but also different cultures, which helps me learn a much broader range of information. I also learn through traditional means when I need to brush up on my grammar and conventions, and I believe that educating myself on other cultures and languages allows me to live a more rounded life, as well as benefit me in my future education and career. Learning helps me to better understand our world, and therefore my place in it, making it essential to my being. 

Similarly, I also find that venturing or exploring is a core value to me. I have a fundamental desire to travel and explore the world, and experience as much as I possibly can within my life. I believe that because I grew up outside of Canada, I have had the opportunity to see that there is so much to see and be experienced beyond our country. This is reflected in my current actions as a student, and many decisions that I make. For example, I work a part-time job partially to support my post-secondary education, but also so that I can have the ability to travel as soon as possible on my own. I also try to take advantage of any opportunities which broaden my horizons and allow me to venture. This means that I am arranging my education and my future in accordance with my craving to see the world, and so I can live out the life I wish to have, even though I have very limited ability to carry out this value currently. The countries that I would most like to visit include Japan, Peru, Switzerland, and Australia, but I hope to be able to see much more and live outside of Canada for a period of time. The aspiration to venture and explore is a constant motivator in my life, and brings me a lot of joy and excitement when I think about all the possibilities that I will have in my lifetime. Maybe include places you would like to visit?

Lastly, family values are of the utmost importance to me. I am very close with my family, and family relations are a huge part of my life. Family is something that lasts forever, and they are the forefront of Chinese culture, meaning that it is essential to maintain strong family values. This is illustrated in my life as I spend a lot of time with my family, and make sure that I am always dedicating some of my time to them. We support each other, and help with whatever we can. We put a lot of effort into our birthdays because they are very significant to my family and will allow me to look back very fondly on my childhood. Being in Canada makes it difficult for my family to experience the same sense of festivity and celebration for Chinese New Year as we had in China, so we tend to go all out for the holiday to replicate the feeling. The time we spend allows us to have steady, healthy communication. My family laid out the foundation for my life, and my identity, which is why this value is so important to me. My parents chose to move to Canada so that my sister and I could have a better education and more opportunities for our future, and I will always be trying to find ways to show them my appreciation. This relationship brings a lot of joy, stability and a sense of security to my life, and I wish to reflect this relationship with my future family as well. A bit more info maybe explaining the significance of those particular holidays or the specific opportunities your family has provided if you wanted to add more detail.

In essence, educating myself, exploring, and my connection to my family are the cardinal and fundamental values which determine my actions and motivators. This is represented through the amount of time I dedicate to strengthening my knowledge, giving myself freedom to travel in the future, and the time I spend with my family. You can learn and understand a lot about a person from the values they hold, and I believe that these core values, and ones beyond what are stated here, are what makes me an individual, and what allows me to find my way in life.

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Essay on Values for Students and Children

500+ words essay on values.

Importance of Values

For an individual, values are most important. An individual with good values is loved by everyone around as he is compassionate about others and also he behaves ethically.

Values Help in Decision Making

A person is able to judge what is right and what is wrong based on the values he imbibes. In life at various steps, it makes the decision-making process easier. A person with good values is always likely to make better decisions than others.

Values Can Give Direction to Our Life

In life, Values give us clear goals. They always tell us how we should behave and act in different situations and give the right direction to our life. In life, a person with good values can take better charge.

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Values Can Build Character

If a person wants a strong character, then he has to possesses good values such as honesty , loyalty, reliability, efficiency, consistency, compassion, determination, and courage. Values always help in building our character.

Values Can Help in Building a Society

If u want a better society then people need to bear good values. Values play an important role in society. They only need to do their hard work, with compassion, honesty, and other values. Such people will help in the growth of society and make it a much better place to live.

Characteristics of Values

Values are always based on various things. While the basic values remain the same across cultures and are intact since centuries some values may vary. Values may be specific to a society or age. In the past, it was considered that women with good moral values must stay at home and not voice their opinion on anything but however, this has changed over time. Our culture and society determine the values to a large extent. We imbibe values during our childhood years and they remain with us throughout our life.

Family always plays the most important role in rendering values to us. Decisions in life are largely based on the values we possess. Values are permanent and seldom change. A person is always known by the values he possesses. The values of a person always reflect on his attitude and overall personality.

The Decline of Values in the Modern Times

While values are of great importance and we are all aware of the same unfortunately people these days are so engrossed in making money and building a good lifestyle that they often overlook the importance of values. At the age when children must be taught good values, they are taught to fight and survive in this competitive world. Their academics and performance in other activities are given importance over their values.

Parents , as well as teachers, teach them how to take on each other and win by any means instead of inculcating good sportsman spirit in them and teaching them values such as integrity, compassion, and patience. Children always look up to their elders as their role models and it is unfortunate that elders these days have a lack of values. Therefore the children learn the same.

In order to help him grow into a responsible and wise human being, it is important for people to realize that values must be given topmost priority in a child’s life because children are the future of the society. There can be nothing better in a society where a majority of people have good values and they follow the ethical norms.

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On Humans: Grappling with the Intersection of Nature, Work + Technology

About Trust, Part Six – A Deeper Dive Into Core Values

By Mark Abbott

At the core of every company is people. Everyone says this, so it reads trite, but anyone who has ever worked in a company knows this to be true. They also know that their level of life satisfaction, and their level of well-being, is fairly dependent upon their level of satisfaction with their work. Not only that, their satisfaction with work is significantly dependent upon their satisfaction with their relationships at work. In short, I believe High Trust Company’s (HTC’s) are those where the vast majority of employees genuinely love not just their Work but their Workplace (yep, another intentional capital W).

The other major item that comes into play for almost every worker is their belief that their work matters (aka they buy into the company’s purpose). Deep down inside I believe we all want to matter (and that to matter, we need to make life better). This is consistent with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. If we matter, we will have a reasonable likelihood of developing self-esteem. I write “developing” because you cannot give it to someone. That was one of the big flaws with the self-esteem movement that began in the late 20th century. You have to earn self-esteem because then it’s yours. You earned it. You own it. You can take it with you if you want to move to another tribe (aka company). I like to say: to matter, you have to matter. By that I mean you can’t just want to matter, you have to earn it.

It’s like an insight I acquired decades ago which is: You don’t make money because you want to make money; you make money because someone values what it is you do / have.

This simple idea applies to individuals and companies. At the risk of stating the obvious, all of this Work needs to be executed reasonably well if the company operates in a market where competition exists.

The consequence of all of this is that HTC’s have cultures that not only recognize the importance of people, and their need to matter, but minimize the inherent friction associated with all these different types of people (each of whom wants to matter) coming together and breaking apart to do Work. And one of the most important things HTC’s do is develop high trust cultures that are built upon a small collection of very well developed “Core Values.” Without a clear set of deeply shared values… there is no enduring connection ).

HTC’s inevitably develop cultures that minimize the inherent friction associated with…different types of people coming together and breaking apart to do Work.

As I wrote about in “ Being Human: 101 ,” thousands of years ago we developed values to make it easier for us to survive and flourish as social beings. The consequence of this is values are ubiquitous in all groups (religious or secular).

After a couple of decades or so of living on this planet, most of us have come to learn that there are all sorts of groups out there. Some we’re attracted to and comfortable within, and some we’d rather not be a member of. It feels almost wrong to write the last sentence, but it’s true. This doesn’t mean we cannot co-exist and thrive without belonging to all groups. And it certainly doesn’t mean that different groups cannot get along.

What it does mean is we are not well suited for all groups and, frankly, not all groups want us. Some groups need a certain level of Competency we don’t possess (e.g., an NBA team for >99.999% of humans) and some require a Character that we may not possess (e.g., a spy ring for me — I couldn’t lie well enough to save my life), and many are composed of values that don’t match well with ours (e.g., a dictatorship — I am not a big fan of being told what to do. You?).

This is my first essay where we’re going to take a deeper look at some of the more complex ingredients associated with the Three Dimensions of Trust. I’m starting these “deep dives” by unpacking the Core Values component of the Connections-Based Trust dimension (which I have come to believe could also be called the Social-Based Trust dimension but the “Three C’s of Trust” generally resonates better for me — feel free to comment). I’m starting with Core Values because it’s one of the most common ingredients that companies focus on if they have any interest in building an HTC.

So what are values?

According to Wikipedia: “In ethics, value denotes the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live (normative ethics), or to describe the significance of different actions. Value systems are prospective and prescriptive beliefs: they affect ethical behavior of a person or are the basis of their intentional activities. Often primary values are strong and secondary values are suitable for changes. What makes an action valuable may in turn depend on the ethical values of the object it increases, decreases or alters. An object with “ethic value” may be termed an “ethic or philosophical good” (noun sense).”

I love this definition because there is so much to unpack here. Let’s list a few of the values of values:

• Some values are strongly held (e.g., what is good and important, tend to endure and are typically widely held by a group [e.g., democracy])
• Some values are more personal and subject to change (e.g., what is useful, beautiful, desirable and constructive)
• Most of us have values that reflect our personal beliefs on what “ought to be”
• Every value can be categorized along three sub dimensions: – Importance (to me, to the group) – Relevance (to me, to the group) – Time (durability)
• Since values help us understand the degree of importance, they are hierarchical in nature
• Since values are hierarchical, and we care more about things that deeply matter to us than those that don’t, they also help us form a hierarchy for feeling (from strongly for, to indifferent, to strongly against)
• Values have value and consequently can be thought of as a good (i.e., something whose value can be measured)
• The value of values can, with a bit of work, be measured and consequently values make it easier to objectively assess options so we can undertake cost / benefit analyses, make informed decisions and do what our team calls GSSD™ (“Get Smart Stuff Done™)
• Consequently, values help us form a hierarchy for thinking, feeling and doing (all three of which are needed to create and innovate) that not only simplify our choices but make it significantly easier for us to Work, and through our Work, make life better

What Core Values are Not

If you’ve been following this series, you may recall I purposely inserted the Core Values component into the Connections-Based Trust dimension and that, for purposes of clarity, I highly recommend you think of Core Values as traits that are not commonly associated with Character and Competency. I’ve worked with dozens of companies that mix these concepts and their Core Values are far more effective, and durable, when they don’t dilute them with Character-based traits (e.g., honesty, integrity) that are, in the words of Patrick Lincioni, “permission to play” or Competency-based traits that are not appropriate for every single seat in our company (e.g., detail oriented, innovative, organized).

Some Guiding Principles for Creating a Company’s Core Values

Core Values are a short list (typically 3 to 7) of behavioral norms, philosophical beliefs, and / or guiding principles that a company finds sacrosanct (aka important, relevant and enduring). The best Company Core Values score 10/10 across all three dimensions (recall, I love being able to understand the math associated with trust ).

Well-defined and genuinely embraced Core Values:

• Clarify who we are
• Articulate what we stand for
• Guide us on who we hire
• Help explain why we do business the way we do
• Guide us on how to teach
• Inform us on how to reward
• Help us to better understand why some people don’t fit
• Help us let people go
• Unify the whole organization
• Inform our business processes
• Guide / are compatible with our value proposition
• Require no external justification

There are numerous approaches to developing your company’s Core Values. If you haven’t already enumerated them or if you are not sure yours are right, here’s a brief summary of how I help my clients find theirs:

• I have them collectively create a list of 10–15 employees they love working with (the more that are known by most of those in the room, the better).
• I present the Three C’s of Trust framework and ask them to list the behavioral traits (repeat: not character, not competency) that they love about each one of these people.
• I write the words and short phrases (e.g., Get Stuff Done, Do the Right Thing) that they use to describe the traits that they love up on a white board.
• Once we’re done building the list of traits, I ask each of them to share the names of some colleagues (present and / or past) who they find / found really difficult to work with. My goal is to get 5–7 names and then have them share what behaviors / traits they find difficult to work with. Almost all the time, they tend to be the antithesis of some of the behaviors that they found so attractive in the colleagues that they loved working with.
• As they share their list of what I call “antitheticals,” we star the attractive / opposite behaviors.
• Finally, we work to consolidate the list into about five Core Values (90% of my clients have five).
• I know we’ve built Core Values that will last when the words we choose are words they were using all of the time. Words that they obviously use in the workplace. Words that are authentic, clear and easy to remember.

90% of the time, we get a very good initial list of Core Values within an hour, we load them into the Core Values section of Ninety.io (forgive the plug but it’s true), add some descriptors, and the teams find the exercise almost magical.

I then ask them to sleep on our Work and tweak as needed until they deeply love them. 90% of the time they are ready to publish / share their Core Values by the end of our second or third session together.

While I love all aspects of being a coach, helping teams nail their Core Values is probably not only one of the most rewarding things I do, but it’s probably the easiest Work I do.

If you’ve already built out your Core Values, are you and your colleagues confident they will stand the test of time?

Rock-solid values have three common “core” traits; they are important, relevant and enduring . It’s a worthy exercise to run each of your proposed values up against each of these. Is this value truly important to us as individuals and as an organization? Is this value relevant — does it matter as essential to who we are? And as time rolls on and we navigate future changes (some yet to be anticipated), will this value endure as we evolve?

Also, avoid diluting Core Values with words, concepts or traits related to Character or Competency . As referenced earlier, Character-Based Traits (e.g., “integrity”) are table stakes and add little value. Incorporating Competency-Based Traits (e.g. “innovative”) that typically don’t apply to every seat in the company will not stand the test of time if your using your Core Values to assess every person in your company and every candidate you consider hiring. What follows is a simple diagram you can use to assess your current Core Values if you already have them or to help you develop yours if you haven’t.

If the answers aren’t checked straight across the board, you may want to schedule an hour with your senior team and run through the exercise I shared earlier.

As Jim Collins and Jerry Porass masterfully presented in Built to Last (the book that unquestionably launched my career), enduring companies are founded, and later led, by individuals who not only provide their organizations with strong and well-defined philosophical belief systems but endeavor to ensure the systems persevere.

In short, genuine, well crafted, Core Values are one of the essential ingredients you’ll find in virtually every HTC. They help us distinguish between important and not important, desirable or not desirable. They help us find our kind of people and steer clear of the wrong people for us. They are tightly aligned set of lights that guide us toward and away from actions. They are one of the key ingredients associated with building and maintaining a High Trust Company.

Executive Summary

• A person’s well-being in general is influenced by the level of satisfaction with their Work, with their relationships within the workplace and the belief that their Work matters (aka they buy into the company’s purpose).
• You don’t make money because you want to make money; you make money because someone values what it is you do / have.
• An organization’s Core Values are a key component of the Connections-Based Trust dimension, one of the most common ingredients that companies focus on if they have any interest in building an HTC. This typically is a short list of behavioral norms, philosophical beliefs, and / or guiding principles that a company finds important, relevant and enduring.
• While there are different approaches to develop Core Values, well-defined and genuinely embraced Core Values will help clearly define who the company is, what it stands for, who belongs in it, who doesn’t, and make it much easier to not only attract but retain your kind of great people.
• Over the longer run, great Core Values accelerate our ability to build, and sustain, a High Trust Company.

About the Author

This article is part of a series by Mark Abbott. Mark is the Visionary / Founder of Ninety.io and a sought-after business leader, writer and executive-team coach. With nearly four decades of experience with early stage, small and mid-sized companies as a lender, investor and business builder, his passion centers on helping people build extraordinarily productive, humane and resilient companies.

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About Trust, Part One – A Forever Work in Progress

About Trust, Part Two – What is Trust

About Trust, Part 7a - A Deeper Dive Into Connections, Culture and Hierarchies

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How to establish your brand's core values and act on them.

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Ryan McFarland, Founder & CEO of Strider Bikes .

As entrepreneurs, we all want to build a business that has strong core values. Having those guiding words is a sign that your organization is confident in its identity. It helps set expectations for your employees and signals stability to future customers. The thing is, we all have such grand ideas of what our business is and will be that we’re frequently guilty of overcomplicating something that should be so simple. Through consultations and revisions and through second- and third-guessing, we end up losing the thread. In 17 years running Strider Bikes, here’s what I’ve learned about core values, including how much (or how little) we should think about them:

1. Authenticity

When you’re trying to establish your company’s core values and mission statement, it’s too easy to let external thoughts creep in. How do my values align with my marketing efforts? How will my mission statement be perceived by the customers I want to attract? If you actually want the company you build to live your values, those values have to be inside of you from the get-go. They should be the written expression of what you truly believe. Because if you’re trying to be something you’re not, you’re likely to fail.

That’s what made establishing our core values at Strider so easy. In fact, I sometimes laugh when I think about the “core values” of our business because it sounds so formal. We didn’t sit down one day to draft values that sounded good on paper. In fact, I don’t think I wrote down our core values or mission statement for at least two years after the company started. I just asked, “What motivates me?” Simple: I love riding and I love inspiring kids to ride. That’s my purpose, and it’s become the company’s purpose. I started Strider in the first place because I loved riding so much that I wanted to teach my sons how to ride and couldn’t find a suitable tool for teaching them. Our mission statement is simply an expression of how we use our purpose to solve a problem. We build lightweight bikes that develop coordination and confidence in kids.

It’s easy for a company to live its values and follow its mission statement every day if team members all share the same purpose and don’t overcomplicate it.

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Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, 2. simplicity and clarity.

Mission statements or core values, whatever you choose to call them, are frequently so wordy and complex that they don’t end up meaning anything. They’re just a string of buzzwords haphazardly pasted together. The problem is that if nobody understands your mission statement, they can’t follow it.

Again, my advice is to keep it simple. Ask what you’re trying to accomplish and spell it out. Your company’s core values and mission statement should be like a little North Star that keeps you on track with why you started the business in the first place. You see above that I can boil our core values and our mission statement down to one sentence: “We love inspiring kids to ride, which is why we build lightweight bikes that develop two-wheeled coordination and confidence in kids.” It’s so simple that everyone in the company can understand, embrace and act upon it daily. It’s also so clear and straightforward that it keeps me from following some hair-brained idea that completely changes the business. If, one day, I decided to make sleds, my colleagues would all look at me like I’m crazy because I broke away from that one simple sentence that guides our business.

3. Turning Values Into Action

For us, our central purpose inherently influences the design and development of our bikes. As our business grew, however, revisiting that purpose has helped us realize how we could expand our mission for social good. We started getting calls from parents whose children had specific challenges—including limb differences, Down Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder and more. They wanted to know if we could help their kids ride. These weren’t challenges we had confronted until we were approached, but we knew our mission was to help all kids learn to ride.

One example of that is the Adaptive Strider Program, in which we help individuals with height and limb differences learn to ride by making custom modifications to our 12” balance bike models at no extra cost. Instituting programs like that are extremely rewarding and clearly fit our core values, but it’s also important to us that we can scale those efforts, so we earmark a consistent annual percentage of our profit for all of our charitable efforts. As our business grows, our ability to contribute positively to the community grows with it.

If you’re looking to turn your own business’s values into action, the first thing you have to do is look and listen. Look for ways where your business’s core values and mission statement align with a project for social good. How can you draw a clear line between what you do and how it can help other people? Listen to the people around you—your customers and clients. Oftentimes, you’ll find they bring you the best ideas because they have problems you can solve that you’ve never thought of before. Chances are, they’re living these problems and see how you can help. That line you’re trying to draw? They see it and they want you to help.

Once you’ve settled on the action you want to take, make sure you can accomplish it consistently. Set up a structure that funds that project at the beginning, rather than backpedaling and reviewing your charitable budget at the end of every fiscal year.

Establishing and acting on your brand’s core values doesn’t have to be complicated. What genuinely drives you? What genuinely drives your team? Our journey has shown me that, if a company keeps its values and purpose simple, it will be in a better position to help others. It will be more adaptable and open to feedback that improves its products and expands its impact. Your team doesn’t have to talk about your values at every meeting or carve them into stone. You should know what you are meant to do so your purpose becomes learning how to get better and reach more people with your message.

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