professional values essay

• Skip to main content
• Skip to footer

Additional menu

Start with Values

Discover, align and activate your core values

A guide to professional values

By Daniela Kirova

Your professional values are the core ethics and values you uphold and demonstrate in the workplace. They can include actions, skills, and behaviors that many companies actively seek out and want to see in an employee.

A number of professional values can be key to career success. They can be crucial to your performance at work.

Table of Contents

How values help you succeed at work

 Professional values are traits that often include behaviors and soft skills needed to build and sustain a career. Having the ability to adjust your style of communication and interaction with different groups or teams demonstrates an adaptive and flexible personality, which can have a positive effect on how you are perceived in the workplace.

This is just one example. A value like responsibility will make you desirable at the workplace as someone who is accountable for their actions and can be trusted. 

Loyalty to a company can help you succeed at work too. If you stick with them in tough times, like a recession, you might reap the benefits at times of economic growth. You might be rewarded for your loyalty with a big bonus or a promotion. This depends on the company and its own set of values. It’s always good if your values correspond to your employer’s.

The importance of consistency

The traits you demonstrate at work influence how your employer, coworkers, and clients or partners perceive you and interact with you. You’re demonstrating to everyone you interact with that you have confidence and self-worth and want to succeed when you have strong, constructive, and consistent professional values. What’s more, your professional values can be critical in terms of demonstrating your ability to take on more important and challenging tasks, which can help you advance professionally in the future.

List of professional values

• Responsibility
• Time management

Accountability

• Team working
• Helpfulness
• Communication and presentation
• Confidentiality

Professional values to adopt

Responsibility is at the top of most people’s lists when it comes to professional values. It mainly involves keeping any promises you’ve made related to work but also offering help or support when needed.

A professional who upholds responsibility as a value is capable of meeting objectives. They make sure they perform as well as possible and complete the tasks that they take on. Demonstrating this value shows superiors, coworkers, and subordinates that you are committed to contributing to company growth and achieving goals.

Honesty and integrity are related values, both of which can help you build a strong foundation of professional values. Your supervisors or coworkers will be more likely to turn to you when they need reliable input if you are open and honest in your communication with them. What’s more, you show you can be trusted when you’re honest in your work, which is crucial for building strong professional relationships.

Integrity can help you build supportive and reliable relationships. It means you’re reliable and honest in your communications and interactions with others.

Reliability

Reliable professionals are punctual, follow through on their commitments, and are on track with their work objectives. Demonstrating reliability can lead to more challenging projects that can help you move forward in your career. Your superiors will be more likely to trust you with important tasks.

People who demonstrate accountability in the workplace take responsibility for their behavior and actions in the workplace. You uphold more than one value when you’re accountable for your behavior and conduct in the workplace. You also demonstrate your responsibility, honesty, adaptability, and positive attitude, particularly when you seek input and feedback to improve your performance.

Adaptability

Adaptability to different situations is a very helpful value in the workplace. It makes it easier to navigate interactions with different types of people. Issues and challenges can arise in any field of professional activity. Adaptable people can adjust their approach to resolving issues in challenging situations.

Self-motivation

Being able to motivate yourself is critical to have as a core value. Staying motivated at work will help you find meaning in your job, stay satisfied with it, remain passionate about it, and inspire others. Many employers look for people who can stay motivated on their own because this ability demonstrates a strong need to achieve not only personal but also corporate success.

Companies usually look for staff that will stay loyal to their organization. Loyal employees do their job for the benefit of their employer, superiors, and team and remain committed to supporting the company’s development and growth.

By demonstrating loyalty to your employers, you’re showing them that you care about how the organization achieves success and that your job matters to you.

You can develop confidence at the workplace as you master challenging tasks, solve problems, ask for feedback, and apply it to improve your performance. By focusing on improving your skills and on your professional development, you’re showing that you trust your ability to grow and succeed professionally.

What’s more, you can build confidence by accepting tasks you aren’t typically responsible for, like giving a presentation or leading a team meeting.

Employees who are compassionate support each other, offer help when needed, and find ways to let others know they care. Compassion helps people build meaningful relationships by leading to a deeper understanding of others’ feelings. At the workplace, this value is crucial for resolving conflict, solving problems, and giving and receiving constructive feedback.

Patient people deal with challenges more effectively. They can find the right solutions to problems and ultimately cope with work-related stress more easily. Being patient can help you find solutions to issues, overcome challenges, understand other people’s perspectives, and complete tasks accurately and comprehensively.

Being empathetic means understanding others’ points of view, feelings, and ideas. If it becomes a professional value, this trait can help you relate to people at the workplace and find common interests with them.

Empathy can even help you build friendships at work, which will make your job more fulfilling and contribute to an all-around supportive environment. It helps people adapt to different interactions, making relating to others easier.

Flexibility

Like adaptability, flexibility as a professional value reveals an ability to stay open-minded and willing to help others and take on challenges. In addition, being flexible at work means your superiors can rely on you to provide support to a coworker, handle a last-minute task, or take on additional projects outside your usual job responsibilities.

Professional vs. personal values

Professional and personal values can overlap, but they can be completely different. Personal values tend to change as a person develops. This happens through social influences, life experience, growing awareness, and an improved understanding of human nature. On the other hand, professional values are more like a formal guide to adhere to. They aim to create a professional culture that tries to set boundaries for conduct and improves practice.

How to identify your professional values

Begin by establishing what is most important in your career among many different and often mutually exclusive values. Most commonly, professional values include income, stability, advancement, the opportunity to live abroad, excitement, travel, creativity, growth, flexibility in schedule and location, mentorship, purpose, title and stature, recognition, work-life balance, contribution to your community, entrepreneurship, leadership, engagement, collaboration, competition, team culture, etc.

After articulating several values that resonate most with you, prioritize them, so it’s easier to see if there is any conflict between two or more values. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is it important for me to work for a famous brand?
• Am I looking for an opportunity to do a specific type of work?
• Am I looking for upward mobility, or do I crave flexibility?
• Is making money more important than working for an organization that aligns with my personal values?
• Am I willing to make less money to work for an organization I’m proud of?
• Is an impressive job title more important to me than the tasks and responsibilities?

Be true to yourself

In pursuing an important professional value like making more money, you might move to a new city or country where you have no friends or family, and this wouldn’t be a problem for you. A lot of people think making money is their top professional value, but their behavior says otherwise.

Money probably isn’t a priority if you don’t want to travel regularly, aren’t willing to move to get a raise, and don’t want to be on call for emergencies. Instead, your priorities might be a better work/life balance, a flexible schedule, or full autonomy. There is nothing wrong with that at all.

When articulating a set of values, don’t base it on what society dictates. Being honest about what matters most to you is far more important. You’re the one that has to live with your career.

If you feel frustrated in your career, there could be a misalignment between your values and your work goals. It might be that your professional values have changed with time. Defining professional values can help you build a meaningful and sustainable career. Otherwise, you’re perpetually searching for something you can’t put your finger on. 

https://www.bradford.ac.uk/careers/develop-skills/professional-values/

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/professional-values

https://thecriticalblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/17/personal-value-system-vs-professional-value-system/

https://www.inc.com/scott-miller/dont-know-your-professional-values-you-might-be-on-wrong-track.html

Further reading:

About Daniela Kirova

Daniela is a writer, translator and editor fluent in English, German and Bulgarian. She holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from the New Bulgarian University and bachelors degree in English Linguistics from the University of Sofia.

Ready to bring your values to life?

Discover the science and practice of values in our comprehensive course.

Learn More   Get Started Today

• Undergraduate
• High School
• Architecture
• American History
• Asian History
• Antique Literature
• American Literature
• Asian Literature
• Classic English Literature
• World Literature
• Creative Writing
• Linguistics
• Criminal Justice
• Legal Issues
• Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Political Science
• World Affairs
• African-American Studies
• East European Studies
• Latin-American Studies
• Native-American Studies
• West European Studies
• Family and Consumer Science
• Social Issues
• Women and Gender Studies
• Social Work
• Natural Sciences
• Pharmacology
• Earth science
• Agriculture
• Agricultural Studies
• Computer Science
• IT Management
• Mathematics
• Investments
• Engineering and Technology
• Engineering
• Aeronautics
• Medicine and Health
• Alternative Medicine
• Communications and Media
• Advertising
• Communication Strategies
• Public Relations
• Educational Theories
• Teacher's Career
• Chicago/Turabian
• Company Analysis
• Education Theories
• Shakespeare
• Canadian Studies
• Food Safety
• Relation of Global Warming and Extreme Weather Condition
• Movie Review
• Admission Essay
• Annotated Bibliography
• Application Essay
• Article Critique
• Article Review
• Article Writing
• Book Review
• Business Plan
• Business Proposal
• Capstone Project
• Cover Letter
• Creative Essay
• Dissertation
• Dissertation - Abstract
• Dissertation - Conclusion
• Dissertation - Discussion
• Dissertation - Hypothesis
• Dissertation - Introduction
• Dissertation - Literature
• Dissertation - Methodology
• Dissertation - Results
• GCSE Coursework
• Grant Proposal
• Marketing Plan
• Multiple Choice Quiz
• Personal Statement
• Power Point Presentation
• Power Point Presentation With Speaker Notes
• Questionnaire
• Reaction Paper

Research Paper

• Research Proposal
• SWOT analysis
• Thesis Paper
• Online Quiz
• Literature Review
• Movie Analysis
• Statistics problem
• Math Problem
• All papers examples
• How It Works
• Money Back Policy
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• We Are Hiring

Professional Values and Ethics, Essay Example

Pages: 3

Words: 745

Hire a Writer for Custom Essay

Use 10% Off Discount: "custom10" in 1 Click 👇

You are free to use it as an inspiration or a source for your own work.

Different people have their own vision on what is good and just. Being accumulated through the whole life, values form personality. Achievements, leadership, money, freedom are someone’s key criteria for success and happiness. Others cherish honesty, inner harmony, excellence, and community. Ethics is based on personal values and addresses general perception of all people on what is right and wrong. However, there is a certain difference between values and ethics, as not all values can be ethical. In their attempt to become rich and popular, people tend to overestimate the role of money and achievements. Though earning good salary involves hard work, development of excellent communication skills, becoming rich by all means is not the very good way to behave.

Values, ethics and career success are interconnected.  In his article “Moral reasoning as a Strategic Competency”, Martin Cook describes moral reasoning as a key factor of achievements at work. “Clearly, the moral issues characteristic of this level of strategic leadership require a sophistication and nuance in moral thinking that simple slogans like “maintain your integrity” and “always tell the truth” do little to advance.” (Cook) According to this author, to behave ethically at work person needs to develop certain skills and values. Rewords and punishment is the first and the most important stage of development in formation of moral reasoning. In fact, person needs not only to indentify goals and values, but also to control oneself and act according to the new standards.

Ethical attitude of the employees towards work itself and colleagues is highly valued in both small firms and large corporations. Moreover, team building is essential for big companies with the great number of workers. Therefore, code of ethics is used to regulate positive environment within the corporation. “The Code [of ethics] summarizes broad ethical principles that reflect the profession’s core values and establishes a set of specific ethical standards that should be used to guide social work practice.” (National Association of Social Workers, 2008) In the “Complete Guide to Ethics Management: An Ethics Toolkit for Managers”, Carter McNamara describes how personal values can be developed in the workplace. By implementation of code of ethics managers use to form and stimulate ethical behavior of the employees at work. (McNamara, 2008) For example, each employee is supposed to produce adequate amount of work in response to the salary he/she earns. If person fails to be productive or just does not want to, he/she is acting unethically towards the employee. Code of ethics is a good source to stimulate development of professional values and attitude towards work.

Finally, another source of ethical behavior and development of professional values is person’s character itself. Self-motivation is considered to be the most influential factor that drives people to improve their skills. It is obvious that there is no way to force person to do something until one desires to act accordingly. Therefore, setting mission in life and specific goals stimulates person to develop such values as hard work, openness to experience, self-sacrifice, and self-reliance.

Professional values and ethics are essential for career success. One the one hand, high productivity of the employee, willingness to work in a team, and responsibility can quicken career growth. Secondly, managers can positively treat employee in response to his diligence and ethical behavior. Professional values and ethics can also be applied to the whole organization, not just single employees. For instance, the case with Tylenol in 1982 has shown how business ethics can save the company’s good name. Cyanide was detected in drugs and several people died. Though it was obvious that some of the capsules were poisoned, Johnson & Johnson Co. has removed Tylenol from the market and carefully investigated this case. It was predicted that company should cease production and leave a market. Nonetheless, Johnson & Johnson returned its market share in just six months. If the company tried to neglect this issue, the number of buyers would be small and J&J would become bankrupt (Business Ethics Case Studies). Professional values and ethics are beneficial for both the employee and the company, as they stimulate good performance and effective cooperation.

Business ethics Case Studies. The Johnson and Johnson Tylenol Controversies. Last retrieved May 31, 2009 from http:/ /www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Business%20Ethics/BECG015.htm .

Cook, M. Moral Reasoning as a Strategic Leader Competency . US Army War College.

McNamara, C. (2008). Complete Guide to Ethics Management: An Ethics Toolkit from Managers . Last retrieved May 31, 2009 from http:/ /www.managementhelp.org/ethics/ethxgde.htm#anchor39675.

National Association of Social Workers. (2008). Code of Ethics. Last retrieved May 31, 2009 from http:/ /www.socialworkers.org/pubs/Code/code.asp.

Stuck with your Essay?

Get in touch with one of our experts for instant help!

How Sports Benefit Children, Essay Example

Educating and Caring for Young Children, Research Paper Example

Time is precious

don’t waste it!

Plagiarism-free guarantee

Privacy guarantee

Secure checkout

Money back guarantee

Related Essay Samples & Examples

Voting as a civic responsibility, essay example.

Pages: 1

Words: 287

Utilitarianism and Its Applications, Essay Example

Words: 356

The Age-Related Changes of the Older Person, Essay Example

Pages: 2

Words: 448

The Problems ESOL Teachers Face, Essay Example

Pages: 8

Words: 2293

Should English Be the Primary Language? Essay Example

Pages: 4

Words: 999

The Term “Social Construction of Reality”, Essay Example

Words: 371

Essay on Personal and Professional Core Values in Social Work: A Reflection

Core values are an essential part of what defines a person in terms of the individual identity as well as their professional identity. They are a set of fundamental beliefs or ideals that a person has, that define the way the person acts in their life (Your Dictionary, 2021). They help people in identifying actions as being right and wrong, and help in guiding them to the right path that needs to be followed in order to establish an unrelenting approach towards life. Core values are present on a personal level, and are also listed for every profession. In order for a person to be a good match for a particular line of work, it is essential that these values match.

Personal Core Values

Every individual has a set of values that they have imbibed from their personal experiences throughout their life. Every experience, big or small contributes towards the formation of these values and strengthening them. Personally, numerous experiences have shaped the ideals that I believe are a part of my identity. Following are some of the values that I hold valuable – Family, Honesty, Trust, Loyalty, and Passion.

From my childhood, a large part of the moral values that have been taught in my home is to treat everyone like family. Watching the elders of my family treat guests as well as others like they are an extended part of our family has been an inspiration. From minor things like helping people reach for the stuff on the top shelf or helping someone financially, or donating for a good cause, my family has taught me that doing good for people is a necessity of being human.

Stressing the need to be honest in all aspects of life, and explaining that lying leads to bad consequences has been a part of what my experiences have been. In the recent years, the only times I had to be dishonest have been to help people or to ensure that my studies are not affected, like saying that I was well enough to attend classes despite running a fever, resulting in me being exhausted after classes was a revelation that I had to take care of myself as well.

Trust and Loyalty

My experiences with people have been quite revealing in the sense that I have understood the need to be trustworthy myself before expecting others to be so, and to be loyal to the people who put their trust in me. Often times, it involves helping out friends who are in need of financial help and trusting them to pay me back, or asking for help when I need it myself and remembering the people who have been helping me throughout my life.

Every person in my life whom I have seen succeed in their own life have shown me that one should step forward in one’s education, career, or any aspect of one’s life with passion to work hard and succeed, and it has been an integral part of my approach to all issues that I personally face or help someone in resolving. Passion drives creativity and helps in solving problems more efficiently. However, it is necessary that the values I hold at my core needs to align with the values required for the job I take on for myself.

Professional Core Values for Social Work

Social work as a career requires certain core values in a person choosing to undertake the work in the field. They are – Service and Social Justice, Dignity of a person, Importance of relationships, Integrity, and Competence (University at Buffalo, 2021). In order for a person to work at their best in this line of work, these ideals must match with their personal core values.

• Service and social justice are the primary focus of the job as a social worker. One should have a hard definition of equality and how they can serve people to provide them with help and the solutions to combat oppression (National Association for Social Workers, 2021)
• Every person in the line of work, irrespective of whether it is a colleague or someone else, deserves to be treated with respect. Any action which goes against this aspect of the profession should be treated as a disrespect towards the profession itself.
• Every person whom one encounters in the line of work forms a relationship that goes beyond just blood. Helping a person to stand up for themselves and support themselves is an important part of social work.
• Integrity towards doing the right thing for the benefit of the people, and not compromising in any way when faced with obstacles or someone in power urges to do so, is necessary to ensure that our actions are towards the better life. All actions should show that one is competent enough to take on the obstacles and succeed

How do personal and professional core values relate?

My experiences in life which have developed my personal core values are in line with the core values of social work as a profession. Treating everyone as family with respect and helping them out in their time of need is the same as service and relationship that the profession demands. While the words used may be different, the essence of both ideas are the same to a great extent. Integrity in the line of work is no different that trust and loyalty that are a part of my personal values. Trusting colleagues to act in line with the intentions of the group and the benefit of the people and being loyal to the idea of helping people is the same integrity that social work demands. Developing the competence required for the profession through continuous learning and understanding new ways to work towards the benefit of the society is the same passion that drives me personally to do good to others. While the terms or words used are different in expressing the points, a large part of the ideas professed towards professional core values indeed match with my personal beliefs.

Working towards understanding the personal and professional core values that exist in social work, through reflection has been a revelation that proper upbringing of people often helps in forming them into social workers with or without the tag of a professional. While it is true that excellent education and the nuances of being a professional will be different and complex than just simply helping people, the latter is no different that social work, as long as the person is driven by the inner force to help people.

Your Dictionary (2021).  Examples of Core Values: 100 Powerful Principles.  Your Dictionary:  https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-core-values.html

University at Buffalo (2021).  Social Work Core Values and Code of Ethics.  University at Buffalo: School of Social Work:  http://socialwork.buffalo.edu/admissions/is-social-work-right-career-for-me/values-ethics.html

National Association for Social Workers (2021).  Read the Code of Ethics: Preamble.  National Association for Social Workers:  https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

Cite this page

Similar essay samples.

• Tesla Inc. Marketing Management Strategy
• Essay on Human Resource Management
• Essay on 24 Hours of Inquiry
• The Modern Japanese Family
• Essay on COVID-19 Pandemic Policies
• Essay on Nottely Dam: Fdr’s New Deal Project

Essays About Values: 5 Essay Examples Plus 10 Prompts

Similar to how our values guide us, let this guide with essays about values and writing prompts help you write your essay.

Values are the core principles that guide the actions we take and the choices we make. They are the cornerstones of our identity. On a community or organizational level, values are the moral code that every member must embrace to live harmoniously and work together towards shared goals. 

We acquire our values from different sources such as parents, mentors, friends, cultures, and experiences. All of these build on one another — some rejected as we see fit — for us to form our perception of our values and what will lead us to a happy and fulfilled life.

5 Essay Examples

1. what today’s classrooms can learn from ancient cultures by linda flanagan, 2. stand out to your hiring panel with a personal value statement by maggie wooll, 3. make your values mean something by patrick m. lencioni, 4. how greed outstripped need by beth azar, 5. a shift in american family values is fueling estrangement by joshua coleman, 1. my core values, 2. how my upbringing shaped my values, 3. values of today’s youth, 4. values of a good friend, 5. an experience that shaped your values, 6. remembering our values when innovating, 7. important values of school culture, 8. books that influenced your values, 9. religious faith and moral values, 10. schwartz’s theory of basic values.

“Connectedness is another core value among Maya families, and teachers seek to cultivate it… While many American teachers also value relationships with their students, that effort is undermined by the competitive environment seen in many Western classrooms.”

Ancient communities keep their traditions and values of a hands-off approach to raising their kids. They also preserve their hunter-gatherer mindsets and others that help their kids gain patience, initiative, a sense of connectedness, and other qualities that make a helpful child.

“How do you align with the company’s mission and add to its culture? Because it contains such vital information, your personal value statement should stand out on your resume or in your application package.”

Want to rise above other candidates in the jobs market? Then always highlight your value statement. A personal value statement should be short but still, capture the aspirations and values of the company. The essay provides an example of a captivating value statement and tips for crafting one.

“Values can set a company apart from the competition by clarifying its identity and serving as a rallying point for employees. But coming up with strong values—and sticking to them—requires real guts.”

Along with the mission and vision, clear values should dictate a company’s strategic goals. However, several CEOs still needed help to grasp organizational values fully. The essay offers a direction in setting these values and impresses on readers the necessity to preserve them at all costs. 

“‘He compared the values held by people in countries with more competitive forms of capitalism with the values of folks in countries that have a more cooperative style of capitalism… These countries rely more on strategic cooperation… rather than relying mostly on free-market competition as the United States does.”

The form of capitalism we have created today has shaped our high value for material happiness. In this process, psychologists said we have allowed our moral and ethical values to drift away from us for greed to take over. You can also check out these essays about utopia .

“From the adult child’s perspective, there might be much to gain from an estrangement: the liberation from those perceived as hurtful or oppressive, the claiming of authority in a relationship, and the sense of control over which people to keep in one’s life. For the mother or father, there is little benefit when their child cuts off contact.”

It is most challenging when the bonds between parent and child weaken in later years. Psychologists have been navigating this problem among modern families, which is not an easy conflict to resolve. It requires both parties to give their best in humbling themselves and understanding their loved ones, no matter how divergent their values are. 

10 Writing  Prompts On Essays About Values

For this topic prompt, contemplate your non-negotiable core values and why you strive to observe them at all costs. For example, you might value honesty and integrity above all else. Expound on why cultivating fundamental values leads to a happy and meaningful life. Finally, ponder other values you would like to gain for your future self. Write down how you have been practicing to adopt these aspired values. 

Many of our values may have been instilled in us during childhood. This essay discusses the essential values you gained from your parents or teachers while growing up. Expound on their importance in helping you flourish in your adult years. Then, offer recommendations on what households, schools, or communities can do to ensure that more young people adopt these values.

Is today’s youth lacking essential values, or is there simply a shift in what values generations uphold? Strive to answer this and write down the healthy values that are emerging and dying. Then think of ways society can preserve healthy values while doing away with bad ones. Of course, this change will always start at home, so also encourage parents, as role models, to be mindful of their words, actions and behavior.  

The greatest gift in life is friendship. In this essay, enumerate the top values a friend should have. You may use your best friend as an example. Then, cite the best traits your best friend has that have influenced you to be a better version of yourself. Finally, expound on how these values can effectively sustain a healthy friendship in the long term. 

We all have that one defining experience that has forever changed how we see life and the values we hold dear. Describe yours through storytelling with the help of our storytelling guide . This experience may involve a decision, a conversation you had with someone, or a speech you heard at an event.  

With today’s innovation, scientists can make positive changes happen. But can we truly exercise our values when we fiddle with new technologies whose full extent of positive and adverse effects we do not yet understand such as AI? Contemplate this question and look into existing regulations on how we curb the creation or use of technologies that go against our values. Finally, assess these rules’ effectiveness and other options society has. 

Highlight a school’s role in honing a person’s values. Then, look into the different aspects of your school’s culture. Identify which best practices distinct in your school are helping students develop their values. You could consider whether your teachers exhibit themselves as admirable role models or specific parts of the curriculum that help you build good character. 

In this essay, recommend your readers to pick up your favorite books, particularly those that served as pathways to enlightening insights and values. To start, provide a summary of the book’s story. It would be better if you could do so without revealing too much to avoid spoiling your readers’ experience. Then, elaborate on how you have applied the values you learned from the book.

For many, religious faith is the underlying reason for their values. For this prompt, explore further the inextricable links between religion and values. If you identify with a certain religion, share your thoughts on the values your sector subscribes to. You can also tread the more controversial path on the conflicts of religious values with socially accepted beliefs or practices, such as abortion. 

Dive deeper into the ten universal values that social psychologist Shalom Schwartz came up with: power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security. Look into their connections and conflicts against each other. Then, pick your favorite value and explain how you relate to it the most. Also, find if value conflicts within you, as theorized by Schwartz.

Make sure to check out our round-up of the best essay checkers . If you want to use the latest grammar software, read our guide on using an AI grammar checker .

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

View all posts

Essay on My Values in Life

Introduction.

Personal values are qualities that one considers to be worthwhile and, as such, act as the driving force in their life. They take precedence over other qualities and therefore dictate the manner in which an individual may behave in particular instances. When it comes to my values in life, I have a few that I hold dear.

These values are a result of my upbringing, development, my principles, as well as my socialization and the culture around me. In this “my values in life” essay, I shall identify the core beliefs that I hold and how they influence my everyday choices, actions, and plans that I make.

My Values in Life

One of the educational values that are fundamental to me is achievement. This is a result of my belief that what defines me most as a person is my determination to succeed and my desire to make a positive contribution to society through my career. Achievement is, therefore, one of the values that are most important to me since, in today’s world, achievement and success are mostly tied together with educational success. As a result of this, I hold my educational exploits in high esteem since education is one of the avenues where one’s determination leads to quantifiable success.

I greatly value close relationships with my friends and constantly seek to cement the same. This is because good friends can assist one in achieving his/her goals in life and can sometimes even be closer than family. For this reason, I invest a lot of time and effort in my close friends. I make it a priority to be a part of the significant moments in my friends’ lives, such as their birthdays, wedding days, and even baby christening ceremonies. In addition to this, I always ensure that I inquire as to their well beings periodically.

Growth and personal development for me is a very fundamental value, and its importance in my life cannot be understated. It is my belief that my life is not worth much if I do not strive to constantly improve on my achievements as well as in becoming a better person. This value of personal growth and development greatly impacts my daily living, especially when establishing new relations. It is generally my rule that if a new relationship does not add any value to my life, then I should not waste my time exploring it.

One of the constant realities in human life is that we will always be surrounded by needy people. As such, on a social level, I always strive to give my services to the less fortunate. In my opinion, a life well lived is one that is lived in such a way that it makes a difference to someone else’s life. This is the philosophy with which I have led my life up to this point, and at all times, I try to make a difference in the lives of the people that surround me. Helping other people is, therefore, a value that I value not only in myself but also in other people.

While modern-day living has somewhat led to a degradation of the value of family from what it used to be in gone years, I still hold the value of family to be very important in my life. To me, one’s family members are the ones who will stand by you no matter the situation and encourage you through life’s troubles.

While I reckon that family may not always be supportive or as ideal as I envision it, in my experience, my family is closely knit and always stands up for me. I, therefore, always have my family in mind when making my decisions and consider how my actions will affect them. In addition, I try to seek guidance from members of the family who are more experienced than I am before making monumental decisions in my life.

It has been argued that honest men and women are a dying breed. This statement holds true in our capitalistic society, where profits and personal gains are the primary objectives. The means by which one achieves success is often overlooked, and as such, the ends justify the means.

Even in the midst of such an environment, I still hold honesty as one of my core values. This is mostly a result of my upbringing, whereby honesty was applauded and dishonesty shunned. Also, I have come to realize that when one achieves success through honesty, the level of satisfaction that comes with it is truly unrivaled by any other feeling.

Owing to my upbringing, I have a huge regard for religion. As such, one of my spiritual values is engaging myself in some religious organizations. While it is true that most of my religious values are a result of my upbringing, I have, over time, come to embrace them as my own and therefore make it my personal duty to be actively involved in my religious organization.

To me, this brings about a sense of balance and helps me be more reflective and appreciative in my life. My religious values impact my decision-making since I try not to make choices that are contrary to my religious beliefs.

In this paper, I have identified some of the values that I hold dear to me. I have also identified how these values impact the choices that I make as well as the actions that I take. From this deep exploration of my values, I have come to the realization that my values greatly dictate how I treat the people around me as well as how I prioritize matters. I believe that as a result of my values, I strive harder to achieve the things that I want in life, and as such, I am a better person as a result of them.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, October 29). Essay on My Values in Life. https://ivypanda.com/essays/my-values-in-life/

"Essay on My Values in Life." IvyPanda , 29 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/my-values-in-life/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Essay on My Values in Life'. 29 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Essay on My Values in Life." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/my-values-in-life/.

1. IvyPanda . "Essay on My Values in Life." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/my-values-in-life/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Essay on My Values in Life." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/my-values-in-life/.

• "To My Dear and Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet
• The "Dear Evan Hansen" Play by Steven Levenson
• Norman Krasna’s Play "Dear Ruth" Review
• "Dear John" Movie by Lassa Hallstrom
• Children Upbringing in Europe
• "Jin Ping Mei" by Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng
• The Short Story "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan
• Parenting, Divorce, Dating in the Dear Abby Letter
• Maintaining a Balance of Upbringing
• Anne Bradstreet’s Poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband”
• Most Influential People - My Uncle Jack
• The Ethical Dilemma - How to Make the Right Decision
• Concepts of Lessons from My Life as a Bully
• This Capstone Class: Practice of Ethical and Social Responsibility
• Why Gay Marriage Should Not Be Legal

Home — Essay Samples — Philosophy — Values of Life — My Personal Values in Life

My Personal Values in Life

• Categories: Values of Life

About this sample

Words: 773 |

Published: Jan 31, 2024

Words: 773 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, body paragraph 1: personal value 1, body paragraph 2: personal value 2, body paragraph 3: personal value 3, counterargument.

• Adler, M. J. (2000). The four dimensions of philosophy: Metaphysical, moral, objective, categorical. Routledge.
• Miller, W. R., & Thoresen, C. E. (2003). Spirituality, religion, and health: An emerging research field. American Psychologist, 58(1), 24-35.
• Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford University Press.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Prof Ernest (PhD)

Verified writer

• Expert in: Philosophy

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

2 pages / 888 words

2 pages / 1012 words

4 pages / 1596 words

3 pages / 1219 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Values of Life

Acland, C. (1995) Youth, Murder, Spectacle: The Cultural Politics of ‘Youth in crisis’, Boulder: Westview Press.Cohen, S. (1972/2002) Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers, London: Routledge.Travis, [...]

It is a well-worn saying that "the best things in life are free." This age-old adage reminds us that amidst the hustle and bustle of our consumer-driven world, there are priceless treasures that cannot be purchased with money. [...]

Living an ethical life is a pursuit that transcends time and culture, as individuals across the world strive to make choices that align with their values and principles. In this essay, we delve into the concept of ethical [...]

Core values are fundamental beliefs that guide and influence a person's behavior and attitudes. They serve as the foundation for decision making, relationships, and overall life satisfaction. Understanding and embracing core [...]

Many of the values and beliefs I possess, I actually developed at very early age. And as I have grown, my values have also changed or gone through numerous tests. And though I have held onto most of my values and beliefs, I [...]

The concept of the value of human life has been a central theme in philosophy, ethics, and social discourse for centuries. It touches upon questions about the inherent worth of individuals, the moral obligations we have towards [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free