Naming our values does not guarantee that our everyday choices will reflect them.

Repeated behaviors offer clues about our values, but we must consider the circumstances behind them.

Bringing values into focus can help us choose actions that speak to what we most care about.

We often hear about the importance of living according to our values. Yet asserting our values is not the same as examining how they shape our decisions. When we lose sight of them or face competing commitments and pressures, we can sometimes fail to act on them. On the other hand, understanding how to incorporate them into our decision-making can help us act on them more consistently.

According to Lilach Sagiv and colleagues, personal values are “broad desirable goals that motivate people’s action and serve as guiding principles in their lives.”

As goals, values are not directed towards specific achievements but rather guide decisions across various aspects of our lives. For example, people who value honesty will try to tell the truth and seek out honest people wherever they may be, whether at work, at home, or elsewhere.

Values are desirable, and we think they are worth pursuing, and we want to pursue them consistently, even when other desires compete........

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