Values Identification
Exercise

ASSESSMENT & DISCOVERY TOOLS

Clarify what matters most — and where you’re actually investing your energy.

What This Exercise Surfaces

Most leaders can name their values quickly. The harder question — the one this worksheet is designed to surface — is whether those named values and the daily allocation of time and attention actually match. The gap between stated values and lived priorities is one of the most consistent sources of leadership dissatisfaction and misaligned decision-making.

The four quadrants work together. The first two establish what you hold as important and where your time actually goes. The third quadrant creates the confrontation: goals either align with your values or they don’t, and most leaders find a mix. The fourth is where the work becomes actionable — naming one or two specific changes rather than vague intentions.

The quadrant most people leave blank longest is the top-right. Naming a value is easy; admitting which one actually gets your time requires more honesty about how the week gets spent. Start there if you find yourself stalling.

The steps below are designed to slow that sequence down, so each quadrant builds on the last rather than functioning as four independent prompts.

How to Use This Exercise

  1. Complete the top-left quadrant first. Name your top five values — not the ones that sound right, but the ones you’d defend if pressed. Add a brief note on why each matters.
  2. Move to the top-right. Look at your actual week — where does your time go? Name the values that get the most of it. If those aren’t on your top-five list, note the discrepancy.
  3. In the bottom-left, assess your current goals against your values list. Most leaders find partial alignment. Name which goals connect and which ones are disconnected or driven by external expectation rather than personal priority.
  4. In the bottom-right, write one or two specific changes — not resolutions, but actual shifts in time, decisions, or commitments that would close the gap.
1

Identifying Values

Write down your top 5 values and why they are important to you.

  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.

Which of these values do you spend the most time on? Why?

Are your goals aligned with your top values? If not, why?

What can you change to align more closely with your values?

2

Before Your Next Session

Before your next session:

Which quadrant was hardest to fill? What does that tell you?

If you could make one change from the bottom-right quadrant this week — just one — what would it be?

3

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