Values Sort
Quickly sort a list of personal values and rank what matters most to you — search, filter, select, rank, done.
How the Values Sort Works
Select values
Search or filter by category and tap every value that feels like yours — up to 20.
Narrow down
Cut your selection to the ten values that genuinely belong at the top.
Rank your top 10
Move values up and down until the order matches your gut.
Use your result
Copy, print, or save your ranked values and apply them to real decisions.
Values Sort: Choose First, Rank Second
A values sort is the faster cousin of the card-by-card values card sort. Instead of judging 52 cards one at a time, you start from the full grid of personal values, select the ones that immediately feel like yours, and only then rank the survivors. For people who already know roughly what matters to them, this values sort format reaches a ranked result in two to three minutes.
The selection cap is deliberate. You can pick at most 20 values before the narrowing step begins, because a values sort that starts with 60 candidates is not a sort at all — it is a wish list. Twenty forces early honesty, ten forces clarity, and the final ranking forces order. Each stage of the values sort exists to apply a little more pressure until only your real priorities remain.
Everything runs locally in your browser. Your selection survives a refresh, an accidental tab close, and a lost internet connection, because the state lives in localStorage on your own device — never on a server.
Sorting Personal Values by Category
The values sort grid groups all 52 values into seven categories so you can work through your inner life room by room instead of facing an alphabetical wall.
- Personal Growth — achievement, curiosity, discipline, learning, mastery and the drive to become more capable.
- Relationships — family, friendship, love, loyalty, trust and the people you call home.
- Work — teamwork, leadership, craftsmanship, responsibility and what a good day's work means to you.
- Lifestyle — freedom, adventure, simplicity, travel and the shape of your everyday.
- Community — justice, fairness, service, sustainability and your role in the bigger picture.
- Character — honesty, integrity, courage, humility and who you are when nobody watches.
- Wellbeing — health, calm, mindfulness, self-care and the energy everything else runs on.
Why categories beat alphabet order
Alphabetical lists hide patterns; categories reveal them. When you sort values by category, you often notice that one whole region of life — say Community or Wellbeing — is nearly empty in your selection. That observation is data. A balanced values sort result usually spans four to six categories, and a result concentrated in a single category usually explains a specific kind of dissatisfaction.
How to Rank Your Values Without Cheating
Ranking is the hardest step of any values sort, because every value on the shortlist is genuinely attractive. Two techniques make it honest. First, compare pairs: would you rather be known for creativity or for reliability? Forced comparisons extract real order. Second, use the funeral test — at the end, which three values from your values sort result would you want people to say actually governed your choices?
Do not agonize over positions four through ten. The meaningful information in a values sort result lives in the top three and in the overall shape of the list. A values sort repeated a month apart that swaps positions six and seven is stable; one that replaces the entire top five deserves attention — something in your life probably changed, or the first run was aspirational rather than honest.
Why Values Shift Over Time
Personal values are stable in the long run but not frozen. Early career years often elevate achievement and recognition; parenthood typically raises family and security; a health event can move wellbeing from the bottom of a values sort to the top in a single season. None of these shifts is a failure of character — they are the natural re-weighting of a life in motion.
That is why repeating a values sort once or twice a year is worth the three minutes it costs. Treat the result like a snapshot, not a diagnosis, and compare snapshots over time. The trajectory of your values sort results often says more about your development than any single result does.
When you are done, connect the outcome to action: take your ranked values into the values worksheet for written reflection, or run the full values card sort when you want the slower, more deliberate pass over every card.
Values Sort FAQ
What is a values sort?
A values sort is an exercise for selecting and ranking your personal values. You choose the values that matter to you from a categorized list, narrow the selection down, and order the finalists from most to least important.
How is a values sort different from a values card sort?
A values card sort presents one card at a time and asks you to rate each — slower, more deliberate, harder to rush. A values sort starts from the whole grid so you can select quickly using search and category filters. Both end with the same thing: a ranked list of your core values.
How many values can I select?
Up to 20 in the first step, after which you narrow down to your top 10 before ranking. You can always deselect values, and finishing with fewer than ten is allowed.
How long does the values sort take?
Most people finish in two to three minutes: about a minute to select values, a minute to narrow, and under a minute to rank.
Is my values sort result saved?
Yes, in your browser. Selections, shortlist and ranking are stored locally, so refreshing or closing the tab does not lose your progress. Nothing is sent to any server.
Can I print my ranked values?
Yes. On the result screen use Print results and pick Save as PDF in the browser dialog, or copy the list as plain text.