How to live more in line with your personal values
Align how you act with how you want to be.
🤔 How much does your daily life reflect your values?
🤔 Do you want to live more in line with them?
🤔 Are you ready to figure out how to do that?
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Your personal values define the kind of person you want to be. They guide your decisions and shape how you behave. For example, you might value kindness, showing care and respect for others. Or growth, striving to learn and improve yourself.
It’s not enough to know your values. You have to live them. It’s easy to slip out of step when you have low self-esteem, fear rejection, want to please others, or chase short-term comfort. A good life is one where your actions reflect your values. That’s what integrity means: acting in line with what matters to you.
Moving in the direction of your values is like a plane using its GPS to keep adjusting its course back to the intended path.
Here are some practical strategies to help you live more in line with your values.
⚒️ Pick one value to work on
Pick a value to work on based on:
👉 Noticing moments when your choices or actions clash with your values. Maybe you say yes when you really want to say no, or avoid hard conversations even though honesty matters to you. When these moments form patterns, they reveal the values that need more attention. To avoid feeling overwhelmed, focus on one value at a time.
👉 Conducting a periodic check-in, for example monthly, to assess how well you’re living by your values and choosing the one you want to improve.
Check in with your values by answering:
🤔 Which values am I living by right now? Notice where your actions already match your values.
🤔 Which values am I neglecting? See which values you’re overlooking or ignoring.
🤔 Which value do I want to start working on? Pick one and take small steps to live it more fully.
Don’t be hard on yourself if you’ve lost touch with your values. Everyone does sometimes. What matters is what you do next. Reconnect with your values and let them guide your choices.
⚒️ Align your decisions and actions with your values
Let’s say you’ve been neglecting your health and want to live more in line with that value. When facing a decision that affects your health, ask yourself:
🤔 What would a healthy person do?
Would they take the stairs or the elevator? Choose water or a sugary drink? Go to the gym or skip it? Then follow through and act on that choice.
You can ask a question like this for any value, because values shape how you act and who you want to be. What would someone who values financial security do? What would an honest person do?
⚒️ Act on your values, not your feelings
Living by a personal value isn’t always easy, especially when it means stepping outside your comfort zone. But uncomfortable thoughts or feelings don’t have to decide your actions. That discomfort often means you’re doing something that matters. What counts is the choice you make in the moment. Ask yourself:
🤔 Am I going to act on my values or on how I feel right now?
⚒️ Turn your values into principles
Personal values are broad, abstract ideals that guide your choices and behavior. Personal principles turn those values into practical, guiding rules for daily decisions and actions. For example, if your value is curiosity, you might turn it into a few personal principles: I embrace new experiences and ideas with an open mind. I ask questions and seek to understand the world around me. I actively challenge my own beliefs and assumptions.
⚒️ Turn your principles into small, concrete actions
Even clear principles can feel abstract until you bring them into daily life. Ask yourself:
🤔 What’s one small thing I can do today that reflects this principle?
If one of your principles is “I make time for the people I care about,” you might call a friend. If it’s “I keep learning every day,” you might read a few pages of a book or watch a short talk. Small, consistent actions bring your principles to life.
⚒️ Visualize yourself living your values
Picture yourself consistently acting on a single chosen value. What does your daily behavior look like? How do you handle challenges or decisions? For example, if your value is kindness, you might visualize yourself helping a colleague, listening attentively to a friend, or writing a quick message to cheer up someone going through a hard time. Spend 2–5 minutes each day picturing yourself acting on this value. Visualization turns abstract values into specific behaviors and reminds you what you’re working toward.
Additional tips
👉 Start small: Choose one simple action each day that reflects a core value. Over time, these add up to meaningful change.
👉 Accept imperfection: Living your values isn’t about being perfect. It’s about doing your best in each moment and learning as you go. Be gentle with yourself.
👉 Be mindful: Notice when your actions drift from your values. Instead of judging yourself, use those moments as reminders to realign with what truly matters.
👉 Be patient: Changing habits and living by your values takes time. Give yourself that space.
👉 Share your values: Talk about them with people you trust. It helps you stay committed and can inspire others too.
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Your personal values are the foundation of who you want to be and how you want to act each day. What matters is choosing, again and again, to act in ways that reflect what’s most important to you. That’s how you build integrity: by living your values, no matter what life brings.
