Personal Values

Card Sort Activity Directions

These cards each contain words describing values that are important to some
people. In this activity, you will sort these cards into five different piles depending
on how important each one is to you. For example: some values may not be
important to you at all, and therefore you would put those in the “Not Important”
pile.
Note: It is possible to use fewer than five categories for sorting (e.g. “Most Important”,
“Important”, “Not Important”).

1. To begin, shuffle all of the Value Cards except for the the blank “Other Value”
cards.

2.Once the cards are shuffled, go ahead and sort them not into the different piles
based on how important each one is to you.

3. When you’re done, if there are any other values that are important to you that
are not mentioned on these cards, you can use these blank cards to add them.

4. Once all of the values are placed into the piles, pick 5-10 values in each pile
and rank them in order from 1 (most important) to 5 or 10 (less important).

Note: There may already be 5 or 10 cards in a given pile. Alternatively, there may be more
cards in a particular pile, like the “Most Important” pile. It may be necessary to add some cards
from a closely related pile (ie: add cards from “Very Important” to “Most Important” pile). It is
also possible to skip the first sorting step and just have people pick out and rank-order the
10 values that seem most important to them. This could be done just from a list of values,
but having the values on cards allows people to move them around visually when sorting and
rank-ordering.

July 2013 (Miller & Rollnick, 2013)

Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Very Important Important To Me

To Me

Not Important to Me Most Important

to Me

Somewhat Achievement:
To have important
Important to Me accomplishments

Adventure: Attractiveness:
To have new and exciting To be physically attractive
experiences

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)
Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Authority: Autonomy:
To be in charge of and To be self-determined and
responsible for others independent

Beauty: Caring:
To appreciate beauty To take care of others
around me

Challenge: Change:
To take on difficult tasks To have a full life of change
and problems and variety

Comfort: Commitment:
To have a pleasant and To make enduring,
comfortable life meaningful commitments

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)
Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Compassion: Contribution:
To feel and act on concern To make a lasting
for others contribution in the world

Cooperation: Courtesy:
To work collaboratively with To be considerate and polite
others toward others

Creativity: Dependability:
To have new and original To be reliable and
ideas trustworthy

Duty: Ecology/_____:
To carry out my duties and To live in harmony with the
obligations environment

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)
Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Excitement: Faithfulness:
To have a life full of thrills To be loyal and true in
and stimulation relationships

Fame: Family:
To be known and recognized To have a happy, loving
family

Fitness: Flexibility:
To be physically fit To adjust to new
and strong circumstances easily

Forgiveness: Friendship:
To be forgiving of others To have close, supportive
friends

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)
Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Fun: Generosity:
To play and have fun To give what I have to others

Genuineness: Growth:
To act in a manner that is To keep changing and
true to who I am growing

Health (physical): Health (spiritual):

To be physically well and To be spiritually well and
healthy healthy

Helpfulness: Hospitality:
To be helpful to others To be warm, friendly, and
generous to guests and
strangers

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)
Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Honesty: Hope:
To be honest and truthful To maintain a positive and
optimistic outlook

Humility: Humor:
To be modest and To see the humorous side of
unassuming myself and the world

Independence: Industry:
To be free from dependence To work hard and well at my
on others life tasks

Inner Peace: Intimacy:

To experience personal To share my innermost
peace experiences with others

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)
Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Justice: Knowledge:
To promote fair and equal To learn and contribute
treatment valuable knowledge

Leisure: Loved:
To take time to relax and To be loved by those close
enjoy to me

Loving: Mastery:
To give love to others To excel in my everyday
activities

Mindfulness: Moderation:
To live conscious and To avoid excesses and find a
mindful of the present middle ground
moment

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)
Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Monogamy: Non-conformity:
To have one close, loving To question and challenge
relationship authority and norms

Nurturance: Openness:
To take care of and To be open to new
nurture others experienes, ideas and
options

Order: Passion:
To have a life that is To have deep feelings about
well-ordered and organized ideas, activities, or people

Pleasure: Popularity:
To feel good To be well-liked by many
people

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)
Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Power: Purpose:
To have control over others To have meaning and
direction in my life

Rationality: Realism:
To be guided by reason To see and act realistically
and logic and practically

Responsibility: Risk:
To make and carry out To take risks and chances
responsible decisions

Romance: Safety:
To have intense, exciting To be safe and secure
love in my life

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)
Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Self-Acceptance: Self-Control:
To accept myself as I am To be disciplined in my
own actions

Self-Esteem: Self-Knoweldge:
To feel good about myself To have a deep and honest
understanding of myself

Service: Sexuality:
To be of service to others To have an active and
satisfying sex life

Simplicity: Solitude:
To live life simply, with To have time and space
minimal needs where I can be apart from
others

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)
Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Spirituality: Stability:
To grow and mature To have a life that stays fairly
spiritually consistent

Tolerance: Tradition:
To accept and respect those To embody a way(s) of life
who differ from me given to us by our ancestors

Virtue: Wealth:
To live a morally pure and To have plenty of money
excellent life

Self Determination:
World Peace: The ability for American Indian/
To work to promote peace in Alaska Natives to make
culturally informed decisions for
the world
the good of their people, by their
rights as sovereign nations

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)
Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Respect: Pride/Dignity:
The consideration of others A sense of worth,
as equals self-sufficiency, and strength

Empathy: Connection:
The ability to take the The sense that nothing is
perspective of another and separate from anything else
feel what they feel

Responsibility: Acceptance:
Acceptance for the outcomes To be accepted as I am
of choices, actions and
behaviors

Other Value:
Accuracy:
To be accurate in my
opinions and beliefs

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)
Personal Values
Card Sort Activity

Other Value: Other Value:

Other Value: Other Value:

Other Value: Other Value:

Other Value: Other Value:

July 2013 (Adapted from Miller, et al. University of New Mexico, 2001)