When I was studying for my D License in US Soccer Coaching, one of the topics was having a personal value list. We were asked to list five and which ones are our non-negotiables.
Before that, I didn’t rank or choose from a list, I just knew that values were good and tried to follow as many of them as possible.
Here is a list of 50 values, an excellent starter to think about which ones you hold the most value and would make your non-negotiables in life.
- Achievement: striving to accomplish challenging goals and attain success.
- Adventure: seeking out new experiences and challenges.
- Authenticity: being true to oneself and one’s beliefs.
- Balance: maintaining a healthy equilibrium between different aspects of life.
- Beauty: appreciating and seeking out aesthetic experiences and expressions.
- Boldness: being willing to take risks and pursue one’s goals with courage.
- Compassion: showing kindness and empathy to others, especially those suffering.
- Connection: seeking and maintaining meaningful relationships with others.
- Contribution: making a positive impact on the world and the lives of others.
- Creativity: expressing oneself through art, innovation, or other forms of self-expression.
- Curiosity: being inquisitive and seeking out new knowledge and experiences.
- Dependability: being reliable and trustworthy, following through on commitments.
- Determination: persisting in pursuing one’s goals, even facing challenges.
- Diversity: valuing and respecting differences among individuals and groups.
- Empathy: understanding and sharing the feelings and perspectives of others.
- Fairness: treating everyone equally and justly.
- Freedom: valuing individual rights and liberties and seeking to live one’s life with autonomy.
- Friendship: loving and cultivating close relationships with others.
- Gratitude: expressing appreciation for the positive aspects of one’s life and circumstances.
- Growth: seeking personal and professional development and self-improvement.
- Happiness: valuing and pursuing joy, contentment, and positive emotions.
- Harmony: seeking to create and maintain peaceful, cooperative relationships with others.
- Health: prioritizing physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
- Honesty: being truthful and transparent in all aspects of life.
- Humility: valuing modesty, avoiding arrogance or excessive pride.
- Independence: respecting self-reliance and autonomy.
- Innovation: seeking new and creative solutions to problems and challenges.
- Integrity: doing the right thing, no matter how complicated.
- Joy: valuing and pursuing positive emotions and experiences.
- Justice: promoting fairness and equal treatment for all individuals.
- Kindness: showing generosity, warmth, and concern for others.
- Learning: valuing and pursuing knowledge and personal growth.
- Love: valuing and expressing deep affection and care for others.
- Loyalty: standing by the people and organizations you care about.
- Open-mindedness: being willing to consider different perspectives and ideas.
- Order: seeking structure and organization in one’s life and surroundings.
- Peace: valuing and promoting harmony and nonviolence.
- Power: loving and seeking influence, control, and leadership.
- Privacy: respecting personal space and boundaries.
- Purpose: seeking and pursuing a clear meaning and direction in life.
- Recognition: valuing and seeking out acknowledgment, praise, and appreciation.
- Respect: treating others with kindness, empathy, and consideration.
- Responsibility: being accountable for one’s actions and decisions.
- Security: valuing and seeking safety, stability, and protection.
- Self-expression: loving and expressing oneself authentically and creatively.
- Self-improvement: seeking personal growth and development.
- Service: valuing and contributing to the well-being of others.
- Spirituality: valuing and seeking a connection to a higher power or purpose.
- Stability: loving and seeking consistency and predictability.
- Success: valuing and pursuing achievement, recognition, and material wealth.
If you like to explore more on values, below is a list of 50 books categorized on different themes:
Personal Values
- “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey
- “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl
- “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho
- “The Art of Possibility” by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
- “The Gifts of Imperfection” by Brené Brown
Ethics and Morality
- “The Nicomachean Ethics” by Aristotle
- “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals” by Immanuel Kant
- “Beyond Good and Evil” by Friedrich Nietzsche
- “The Tao Te Ching” by Lao Tzu
- “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius
Social Justice
- “The Souls of Black Folk” by W. E. B. Du Bois
- “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander
- “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire
- “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan
- “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin
Global Values
- “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order” by Samuel P. Huntington
- “The End of History and the Last Man” by Francis Fukuyama
- “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword” by Ruth Benedict
- “The Third Wave” by Alvin Toffler
- “The Post-American World” by Fareed Zakaria
Environmental Values
- “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson
- “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss
- “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert
- “The Nature Fix” by Florence Williams
- “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Educational Values
- “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” by Jane Jacobs
- “Pedagogy of Freedom” by Paulo Freire
- “The Republic” by Plato
- “How Children Succeed” by Paul Tough
- “The Challenge for Africa” by Wangari Maathai
Political Values
- “The Prince” by Niccolò Machiavelli
- “The Social Contract” by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- “The Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
- “The Rights of Man” by Thomas Paine
- “The Federalist Papers” by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay
Religious Values
- “The Bible” by Various Authors
- “The Quran” by Various Authors
- “The Book of Mormon” by Joseph Smith
- “The Dhammapada” by Various Authors
- “The Bhagavad Gita” by Various Authors
Economic Values
- “The Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith
- “Das Kapital” by Karl Marx
- “The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money” by John Maynard Keynes
- “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein
- “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” by Thomas Piketty
Technological Values
- “The Singularity is Near” by Ray Kurzweil
- “The Shallows” by Nicholas Carr
- “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by Clayton Christensen
- “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” by Eric S. Raymond
- “The Code Book” by Simon Singh
