This exercise helps you notice what you want to stand for, and where daily life is close to or far from that direction. It is a structured reflection, not a questionnaire that measures a personality type or a clinical condition.
Step 1 — Sort the list
For each word, mark how much it matters to you right now. Every item needs a choice before you can continue. You can add a value of your own at the bottom. The sorting method is a common educational card-sort process; the words themselves are VeridianCodex wording, not a published scale.
Step 2 — Narrow to five
Choose five values that feel most central today. The discomfort of leaving some behind is part of the exercise.
0 of 5 selected
Step 3 — Importance and current living
For each chosen value, rate how important it is (1–10) and how closely you have been living it lately (1–10). The gap is for reflection only. It is not a score or a cut-off.
Committed action
Write one committed action you will take to reduce the gap between how important these values are to you and how closely you have been living them.
Step 4 — Your snapshot
Keep this as a personal note. Nothing here diagnoses a condition or ranks you against other people.
Notes
- The sort-and-narrow process is a widely used educational method in motivational interviewing and ACT-informed teaching. It is not a licensed copy of any named questionnaire.
- Miller, W. R., C’de Baca, J., Matthews, D. B., & Wilbourne, P. L. (2011). Personal Values Card Sort [Public-domain method]. University of New Mexico. This page does not reproduce that card deck.
- For ACT values as a clinical process (distinct from this exercise), see Third-Wave & Integrative Approaches.
- For Motivational Interviewing, see Experiential & Humanistic Approaches.