- Adventure to actively seek, create, or explore novel experiences that may be uncertain or risky
- Fun to seek enjoyment, amusement, or entertainment and/or to be lighthearted and playful
- Spontaneity to welcome unexpected opportunities with flexibility, and thrive on the excitement of trying new things
- Compassion the capacity to empathize with, and feel concern for, the suffering of others
- Connection to foster meaningful relationships and a sense of unity with others through understanding, empathy, and presence
- Family to have, provide, and care for a happy, loving family
- Kindness to demonstrate compassion, empathy, and goodwill towards others
- Communication to effectively exchange information, ideas, and emotions using active listening, empathy, and clarity in expression
- Curiosity to be open-minded and interested in discovering and learning new things
- Independence to have self-reliance and the freedom to make decisions autonomously, without undue influence from others
- Growth to continually progress and work toward a higher potential
- Health to be physically well and maintain a healthy state of body and mind
- Patience to remain calm and tolerant in the face of frustration
- Resilience to adapt, recover, and thrive in the face of adversity or challenge
- Responsibility to prioritize duty in reliably fulfilling obligations
- Hard Work to have a strong work ethic and commitment to putting in the effort and dedication required to succeed, whether through physical labor or focused effort in one's craft
- Tradition to follow respected patterns of the past and pass them on to future generations
- Safety to be physically and emotionally secure and free from harm or risk
- Gratitude to be purposely thankful and appreciative
- Spirituality to recognize and be connected with things bigger than myself, bringing a sense of perspective, meaning, and purpose to life
- Truth the objective pursuit of factual accuracy and knowledge
- Authenticity to act consistently with my true self, beliefs, and desires, resisting external pressures to ensure alignment between thought and action
- Honesty to be truthful and uphold integrity in both words and actions
- Integrity to be honest, truthful, and morally upright, especially to oneself
- Acceptance to belong as I am without judgment or criticism; to work with the present moment and my circumstance(s) as if I had willingly chosen it
- Inner Peace a state of mental and emotional calmness that transcends external and internal disturbances
- Self-Compassion to respond to oneself with kindness and understanding, particularly in times of difficulty
- Purpose to have a sense of meaning, direction, and intention in life that creates self-identity and fulfillment
- Creativity to generate original ideas or works of art; to cultivate a practice of artistic flexibility
- Humor the ability to find and appreciate the amusing or comical aspects of life
- Which of your top five feels most alive in your life right now? What does living it look like?
- Which one is getting the least of your time and attention lately? What is getting in the way?
- What is one small thing you could do this week that would honor one of these values?
What is a values card sort?
A values card sort is a simple, structured way to figure out what actually matters to you. Instead of staring at a blank page trying to answer “what are my values?”, you work through a deck of cards one at a time — each card naming a single value like honesty, adventure, or family — and sort them into piles by how important they feel. The physical act of sorting forces choices that a list never does. When security and spontaneity can’t both sit in your top pile, you learn something real about yourself.
The version on this page is completely free, runs in your browser, and takes about 10–15 minutes. There’s no signup, no account, and nothing to download. You’ll sort 30 values cards from the Values Vault Core Edition deck, narrow your picks to a top 10, rank your top 5, and finish with a short set of reflection prompts you can save or share.
Where the exercise comes from
The personal values card sort was developed by William R. Miller, Janet C’de Baca, Daniel B. Matthews, and Paula L. Wilbourne at the University of New Mexico in 2001. Miller is best known as the co-founder of motivational interviewing, and the card sort grew out of the same insight: people change more readily when they connect their choices to their own values rather than someone else’s advice. The original UNM card sort was released free for public use, and it has been photocopied, adapted, and handed across therapy tables ever since.
This online version keeps the spirit and structure of that original — sort everything, then narrow, then rank — with a modern deck written and refined by Aly Webster, LCPC, a licensed clinical professional counselor. Each card pairs a value with a plain-language definition, because “achievement” means something different to almost everyone until you write it down.
How the sort works
- Sort all 30 cards into five piles. For each card, ask: how important is this to me, right now, in the life I’m actually living? The piles run from Not important to me through Most important to me. Go with your gut — first instincts are usually the honest ones.
- Narrow to your top 10. Everything you marked Very or Most important comes back for a second look, and you choose the ten that matter most.
- Rank your top 5. This is the hard part, and the useful part. Ordering your five core values against each other is where most people have their “oh — that’s why that decision was so hard” moment.
- Reflect. A few short prompts help you connect your top values to how you’re actually spending your time and attention — and where the gaps are.
When you’re done you can copy a link to your results, start over, or keep your top five somewhere you’ll see them. There’s no right answer and no scoring — the output is clarity, not a diagnosis.
How clinicians and coaches use it
In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), values work is one of the six core processes. A card sort gives clients a concrete, low-pressure way to articulate values before moving into committed action — it’s much easier to sort cards than to answer “what do you value?” cold in session. Many ACT therapists run the sort early in treatment and return to the client’s top five when setting behavioral goals.
In motivational interviewing, the card sort is used to develop discrepancy: once a client names health or family as a top value, the gap between that value and a current behavior becomes something the client notices themselves, rather than something the clinician points out. That’s the exercise working exactly as Miller intended.
Coaches, career counselors, and financial planners use values sorts to anchor big decisions — a job change, a relocation, a budget — to what the client says matters most, so the plan has a reason behind it that survives the first hard week.
Variations worth trying
- Couples: sort separately, then compare top fives. The overlaps are affirming; the differences are usually the most productive conversation you’ll have that month. Neither of you is wrong — you’re just looking at each other’s actual priorities, maybe for the first time.
- Teams and groups: have everyone sort individually, then build a shared top five together. Works for leadership teams, classrooms, and group therapy alike.
- Teens: the sorting format works especially well for teenagers, who often find “what do you value?” impossible to answer out loud but have strong opinions the moment there are cards to move.
- Revisit it: your values shift with seasons of life. People who re-sort after a year are often surprised — in a good way — by what moved.
If you run this exercise with clients regularly, the physical Values Vault deck has 208 cards and works the way cards are meant to: on a table, between two people. The online sort is the appetizer; the tabletop version is the meal.
Frequently asked questions
Is the values card sort really free?
Yes. No signup, no email required, no paywall. You can complete the entire sort, see your full results, and share them without giving us anything.
How long does it take?
Most people finish in 10–15 minutes. There’s no timer — some people move through on instinct in five minutes, and some sit with the top-five ranking for a while. Both approaches work.
Is my sort private?
Yes. Your sort happens in your browser. We record only anonymous, aggregate tallies of which values get chosen — never anything that identifies you. Your results are yours unless you choose to share the link.
Can I use this with clients or students?
Please do — that’s what it’s for. Therapists, counselors, coaches, and teachers are welcome to use the online sort in session or assign it between sessions. Share the page link directly; there’s nothing to license for the online version.
How is this different from the original UNM card sort?
The structure is the same one Miller and colleagues published in 2001: sort by importance, then narrow and rank. The differences are the deck — 30 values with plain-language definitions from the Values Vault Core Edition, written by a licensed clinician — and the format, which is interactive instead of a printable PDF.
Is this a psychological test?
No. A values card sort is a reflection exercise, not an assessment. It has no score, no norms, and no diagnostic meaning. It’s a structured way to have a conversation with yourself — or with a therapist, partner, or team — about what matters to you.