Learn to Define Your Values

Our values are the guiding principles that shape and drive our behaviors. Defining our values is essential, because doing so empowers us to live with intention.

By Erin Baute, PhD(c), MPH

Why Knowing Our Values Is Important

Our values are the guiding principles that shape and drive our behaviors. What we value is what we choose to embody…consciously and unconsciously. When we are clear on our values, we can make choices that align with our true selves. Thus, defining our values is essential, because doing so empowers us to live with intention.

 

Our unconscious values are almost always tied to our identity, so understanding and using our values requires finding clarity about our unique personalities.

 

Our values act as a tether. They can ground us to what matters most, motivate us, guide our beliefs and decisions, and so much more.

 

Our values act as an anchor. They can help us remain grounded, while also reaching for more.

 

So, what happens when we aren’t connected to our values?

Each Enneagram type has a core belief that influences its motivations. Recognizing these aspects helps each type understand their internal values, and how they shape the way you show up in the world.

Ways Your Enneagram Type Can Help Define Your Values

Your Enneagram Type influences your values…often unconsciously. Understanding your Enneagram Type can help you understand what is at the core of the value systems by which you operate on a daily basis.

 

Here are the ways in which your Enneagram Type might help you define your value systems:

 

Type One: 

Core Belief: I must be good and avoid mistakes to be worthy and loved.

Gift: Serenity – I accept that things are imperfect, and I find peace in what is.

Potential Value Words: Integrity, responsibility, excellence, fairness, justice, improvement.

 

Type Two:

Core Belief: I must be needed to feel loved and wanted.

Gift: Humility – I am complete as I am, and my worth doesn’t depend on others’ needs.

Potential Value Words: Compassion, generosity, empathy, connection, kindness, helpfulness.

 

Type Three:

Core Belief: I must achieve in order to be valued and loved.

Gift: Authenticity – I find value in my true self, not just in my achievements.

Potential Value Words: Success, ambition, excellence, resilience, productivity, authenticity.

 

Type Four:

Core Belief: I will be abandoned or seen as ordinary.

Gift: Equanimity – I see that it’s all connected, it’s all beautiful… even myself.

Potential Value Words: Beauty, depth, intimacy, connection, belonging.

 

Type Five:

Core Belief: I need knowledge and independence to feel safe and capable.

Gift: Wisdom – I trust in my own knowledge and also remain open to experience.

Potential Value Words: Knowledge, independence, clarity, understanding, introspection, self-sufficiency.

 

Type Six:

Core Belief: I believe the world is a dangerous place and once I quiet my mind, I will be safe.

Gift: I remain present to what makes me feel uncertain until it goes away.

Potential Value Words: Faith, trust, belief, inner-knowing, reliability, intuition.

 

Type Seven:

Core Belief: I must stay positive and avoid pain to feel happy and free.

Gift: Joy – I embrace the present moment, including its challenges, and find contentment there.

Potential Value Words: Adventure, freedom, spontaneity, optimism, enthusiasm, resilience.

 

Type Eight:

Core Belief: I must be strong and in control to avoid vulnerability.

Gift: Innocence – I allow myself to be open and trust that I am safe as I am.

Potential Value Words: Strength, courage, leadership, protection, justice, self-reliance.

 

Type Nine:

Core Belief: I must maintain harmony and avoid conflict to be at peace.

Gift: Peace – I find inner stillness and embrace my unique place in the world.

Potential Value Words: Harmony, acceptance, patience, support, unity, presence, balance.

 

Each Enneagram type has a core belief that influences its motivations. Recognizing these aspects helps each type understand their internal values, and how they shape the way you show up in the world.

Finding Clarity & Your Enneagram Type

Once you find clarity surrounding your personality and how it shapes your value systems, you can work to reinforce these systems in your life and rid yourself of values that are not serving you.

 

If you are unsure of your Enneagram Type and want to know how it might be affecting your behaviors, get started using this Enneagram Self-Typing Starter Kit.


If you know your Enneagram Type and want to dive deeper into how it affects the motivations behind your behaviors, here are Living the Enneagram self-paced online Enneagram courses.

Erin Baute helps entrepreneurs, business owners, managers, and influential people find their way back from the personality burnout experienced when our coping strategies get overused and our intuition ignored. She is a skilled business coach and behavioral strategist with over 20 years of experience in behavior change and professional development with individuals and teams. Erin earned a bachelor’s degree in Human Development, Master of Public Health and is finishing her PhD in Organizational Psychology, with a focus on personal and professional development using personality as a framework.

Erin has been studying and using the Enneagram for almost 13 years. She is a Certified Enneagram Teacher and Trainer, and an Accredited Enneagram Professional from the International Enneagram Association.

She is working toward her Somatic Experiencing practitioner certification to help her clients make lasting body-based changes and improve her ability to help them find holistic coping strategies for who they are, today.

Instagram: @livingtheenneagram

YouTube: Living the Enneagram 

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