Values Clarification (ACT): How to Find Your Core Values
The Values Clarification technique is a core mechanism of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) that helps you identify what genuinely matters so you can act with purpose when feeling lost or depleted. Supported by over 400 randomized controlled trials, ACT demonstrates that aligning daily actions with personal values significantly increases psychological flexibility and reduces distress. Instead of treating emotions as problems to eliminate, this approach uses painful feelings as signals pointing toward neglected values. If you feel exhausted at work, the problem might not be the workload, but a disconnection from your core value of creativity. By completing a structured inventory like the Bull's Eye exercise, you pinpoint exactly where your behaviors diverge from your chosen directions. You then select one small, specific action to reconnect your daily routine to your intrinsic motivation. EmoFlow-AI does not tell you what to value. It reads what you are carrying that day and picks the practice that fits it - this one, or one that suits the moment better.
ACT supported by over 400 randomized controlled trials
Values-aligned behavior significantly increasing psychological flexibility regardless of goal achievement
What Is This Technique?
Values Clarification originated within Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, developed by Dr. Steven Hayes and colleagues. It is a psychological process that distinguishes lifelong directions from achievable goals. Goals are destinations you can arrive at and check off a list, like finishing a degree or getting a promotion. Values are continuous directions, like walking west; you never arrive at "west," but you can always keep moving toward it. When people experience burnout, midlife crises, or deep apathy, it often stems from pursuing goals that do not align with their intrinsic values. Values Clarification provides a structured framework to map out exactly what you care about across distinct domains: work, relationships, family, social life, and personal growth. By articulating these internal priorities objectively, you separate your authentic self from the obligations, roles, and expectations imposed by society or family conditioning.
How Does It Work?
Values act as profound motivational constructs by changing the psychological function of everyday behaviors. According to Relational Frame Theory, identifying a value creates a cognitive network that infuses ordinary actions with deep meaning. Choosing to text a friend shifts from being a simple chore to an active expression of your value for connection. And when you put into words what actually matters to you, the part of the brain that handles "this is me" lights up alongside the part that registers something good (Brosch et al., 2012; Cascio et al., 2016). That is why saying it out loud does not feel like an exercise - it feels like something true. Furthermore, values alignment shifts your motivation from avoidance to approach. Instead of acting merely to avoid the pain of guilt or fear, you begin acting to build toward the person you want to become. Nothing in your day has changed, and the day still weighs less.
Sources: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999) (book), The Bull's Eye Values Survey (Lundgren et al., 2012) doi:10.1016/j.cbpra.2012.01.004, Cascio et al. (2016) - putting your own values into words engages the brain's reward and self-related systems. doi:10.1093/scan/nsv136
Step-by-Step Guide
- 1
Rate Your Life Domains
Begin with the Bull's Eye exercise by rating major areas of your life on two specific dimensions: how important the area is to you from one to ten, and how aligned your current actions are with that importance. The gap between your high-importance domains and your low-alignment behaviors reveals the exact source of your current distress.
- 2
Differentiate Values from Goals
Ensure you are setting a continuous direction rather than an end destination. "Being a loving partner" is a lifelong value you practice daily, while "planning a date for Friday" is a goal you complete. Discard destinations and focus on identifying the qualities of action you want to embody regardless of your circumstances. A goal can be crossed off a list; a direction cannot, and that is exactly what makes it usable on a day when nothing goes to plan.
- 3
Select Your Top Five
Review a comprehensive list of values spanning categories like connection, authenticity, contribution, and vitality. Narrow the list down to the five values that make you feel most like yourself when you live by them. Strip away what you feel you should value based on external expectations, focusing purely on what you intrinsically care about. If a value only sounds good said out loud, it probably belongs to someone else - keep the ones you would still choose with nobody watching.
- 4
Commit to One Small Action
Translate your chosen value into immediate behavioral activation. Select one specific action you can complete today, in under thirty minutes, that moves you one step toward your top value. If you selected connection, reach out to an old friend. This small step bridges the gap between abstract realization and tangible meaning. Make it small enough that you cannot fail at it today. The point is not the size of the action, it is that the direction stopped being theoretical.
When Should You Use This?
You should use Values Clarification when your emotional intensity is moderate, typically between a three and a six on a ten-point scale. It is highly effective when you are experiencing a sense of being lost, depleted, or hollow, as these feelings almost always signal a disconnection from meaning. It is also the ideal technique when facing major life transitions, such as career changes, empty nesting, or relationship endings, where old identities no longer serve you. Do not attempt this exercise during an acute crisis or severe panic attack, as the cognitive load of evaluating life domains will increase distress. Wait until your nervous system is stabilized before using this tool to plot your long-term direction.
How this looks on an ordinary evening
Three months after the promotion she wanted for two years.
Nothing about her job changed that week. The Sunday feeling did.
What people get wrong about this
Once I finally hit the goal, the empty feeling will lift.
The chase was doing the holding. When it ends, the flatness that was underneath has nothing left to hide behind. That is not a personal failure - it is information about what you were actually working for.
I should already know what I value. Everyone else seems to.
Nobody hands you that question at eighteen. Values get absorbed from family and work long before anyone picks them on purpose, so drawing a blank is a normal starting point, not a gap in you.
If two of my values clash, one of them must be the wrong one.
A clash means both are real. Freedom and security pull opposite ways in almost everyone. The work is deciding which one gets this week, not deleting one of them.
What to keep
- A goal can be finished. A direction cannot - which is why it still works on a day when nothing goes to plan.
- The gap between what matters to you and how you actually spend the week is the useful number, not the score itself.
- Feeling empty after an achievement is common enough to have a name. It points at the wrong target, not at a defect in you.
- Pick the single area with the widest gap. Trying to close five at once is how people quit by Wednesday.
Values Clarification is a starting point - your coach picks what actually fits
Reading about Values Clarification is one thing; doing it when you're overwhelmed is another. EmoFlow-AI starts with a feelings wheel to name what you're actually feeling among 130 emotions. Then a private AI coach - not you guessing or searching the web - chooses the practice that actually fits your check-in and your history, and walks you through it step by step, in the moment. It remembers what worked and builds a picture of your patterns over time. Not a chatbot that forgets you.
- Names what you feel among 130 emotions, then the coach picks the practice that fits - no guessing, no "which technique should I use"
- Walks you through it step by step, in the moment - not a static how-to
- Learns from your check-ins and history, remembers what worked, and shows your patterns
Free check-in, no account or card. Coaching is free to try for 3 sessions - nothing can auto-charge.
Start free check-inFor Mental Health Professionals
Clinicians utilizing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can struggle to track whether clients are actively practicing value-aligned behaviors outside of sessions. EmoFlow-AI helps clients articulate their values and commit to small actions in their own environment. When clients use the app to log their emotional states and chosen behaviors, the app generates a detailed Session Prep Report. This report allows you to see exactly which life domains the client prioritized and which specific actions they took to close the alignment gap. Having this objective record prevents sessions from becoming simple recap conversations, letting you focus clinical time on exploring the emotional barriers and psychological inflexibility that arise when the client attempts to execute their committed actions.
- Track client adherence to ACT committed action steps between appointments
- Review life domain alignment gaps directly in the Session Prep Report
- Shift clinical focus from recounting events to dismantling avoidance behaviors
Frequently Asked Questions
That is completely normal. Values often get buried under years of obligations, habits, and meeting other people's expectations. Instead of trying to think of abstract words, ask yourself who you admire most and what qualities make them admirable. Alternatively, think about what makes you angry. Anger usually signals that a boundary or a core value has been violated. If you would rather not start from a blank page, EmoFlow-AI reads what you name and hands you the first step.
Yes, and it happens to everyone. You might value professional ambition and family connection equally, creating tension regarding how you spend your time. The goal of clarification is not to eliminate this conflict, but to make conscious choices about which value requires prioritization in the current season of your life. Dynamic balancing is healthy. The tension is a sign that both things matter to you, not that you picked the wrong one.
Not at all. If there were no gaps, you would not need to clarify your values. A low alignment score in an area of high importance is simply data pointing you toward where change will be most meaningful. It is a starting point for action, not a verdict on your character. Pick the single area with the widest gap and start there. The rest can wait, and trying to close all five at once is how people give up by Wednesday.
Helpful For These Emotions
Related Techniques
Related Articles
Ready to practice this technique?
Start a Check-in