How To Guides

Banner Image

The Values Deck

For when you're asking, “WTF actually matters to me?”

  • Identify your core values
  • Discover how your values can guide your life
  • Explore deeper meanings behind your decisions

A Step By Step Guide

  1. Find What Resonates Sort through the full deck of cards and create two piles: one pile of values that you resonate with and another pile of values that you don’t. Discard the second pile. Only keep the cards that make you say, “Hey, yeah that sounds like me!”
  2. Narrow It Down Go through the remaining cards and create a pile of the values that feel most important to you and your life.
  3. Fine-Tune Lay the remaining cards out in front of you. Identify values that feel similar (i.e. freedom and independence) and decide which between the two you resonate with most, keep this card and discard the other. Continue this process for all values that feel similar.
  4. Get to the Core Pair down your final pile to your top 5 core values! For a bonus, try to rank them in order of importance to you.

The research that inspired us

Why values matter

Values are kind of like snowflakes: no two are the same, they can feel overwhelming in large quantities, and they are pretty hard to study unless you're in a super controlled (read cold for the snowflakes) environment. Values by nature and individual, ever changing and different depending on culture. Thus, creating a list of values that touches various world views was a challenge. We dove into research and found ourselves coming back to the Schwartz Theory of basic values (Schwartz, 2012). Using this framework we compiled values vocabulary that highlighted each of the 10 basic values listed in Schwartz' theory. It's clear through our deep dive that values matter. As a key component of Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), values are the foundation and reason behind our actions. We hope this deck will allow you apply the research and use it for real life and mental wellbeing practice.

Henriksen, K. (2019). The values compass: Helping athletes act in accordance with their values through functional analysis. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 10(4), 199-207.

Hank, Robb. (2007). Values as Leading Principles in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy. 3. 10.1037/h0100170.

Schwartz, S. H. (2012). An overview of the Schwartz theory of basic values. Online readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1), 2307-0919.