Personal Values Card Sort

Most people can tell you what they’re good at. Ask them about their interests, and they’ll talk for hours. But ask them what they truly value—what actually matters most—and they draw a blank.

You know the feeling. Scrolling through job postings where everything blurs together. Or sitting in a role that looks impressive on paper but leaves you empty. The problem isn’t that you don’t know what you want.

It’s that you haven’t named what matters most.

Values are the compass that makes every career decision clearer. Once you know what matters most, opportunities stop looking identical. A role focused on creativity suddenly looks different from one focused on execution. A company culture built on collaboration feels distinct from one built on competition.

Here’s what this article covers: what a personal values card sort is, how to use it step-by-step, how to handle the struggles that come up, and—most importantly—what to do with your results. Twenty minutes from now, you’ll have language for what matters most.

What Is a Personal Values Card Sort?

A personal values card sort is exactly what it sounds like. A deck of cards, each representing a different value like creativity, financial security, adventure, or community. You sort them by importance.

That’s it. The simplicity is the point.

The personal values card sort was developed by W.R. Miller and colleagues at the University of New Mexico in 2001 as part of Motivational Interviewing methodology. It’s public domain—freely usable and widely adapted by therapists and career counselors worldwide.

Here’s how it works. You sort 40-50 value cards into five piles:

• Not Important
• Not Very Important
• Neither Important nor Unimportant
• Somewhat Important
• Most Important

Then you narrow your “Most Important” pile to no more than 10 values and rank them in order.

The tool is used in multiple therapeutic approaches—Motivational Interviewing (MI), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Why card sorting instead of just thinking about values or making a list? Because comparison forces prioritization. When you have to choose between two cards—”If I could only have one of these, which would it be?”—you engage different cognitive processing than when you’re rating values abstractly.

Why Values Matter for Career Decisions (and Finding Meaningful Work)

When your work aligns with your core values, you experience greater satisfaction, engagement, and resilience. When it doesn’t, you burn out—even if the pay is good and the title impressive.

Values are the “why” underneath everything else.

Research shows 59% of people who leave jobs cite finding better values fit as the most compelling reason—twice as many as those who leave for compensation or advancement. Values-alignment correlation with job satisfaction isn’t just therapeutic theory. It’s measurable.

MIT Career Advising identifies four critical factors for career success: interests, skills, personality, and values. Most people focus on the first three. But values provide the “why” that makes other factors meaningful. Without values clarity, people optimize for the wrong metrics—chasing titles, salaries, or prestige that leave them empty.

Here’s the thing: values are different from skills and interests. Skills tell you what you’re good at. Interests tell you what you enjoy. Personality tells you how you operate. Values tell you why it matters.

Amy Wrzesniewski’s research on calling orientation provides the theoretical foundation for why values clarity matters in finding meaningful work. People with calling orientation view work as inseparable from life purpose—not just a way to earn money or build a career, but an avenue of expression for who they are. Values card sorts help you identify what “meaningful” means for you specifically.

Let me give you a concrete example. You know “creativity” is a top value, so you stop applying to roles focused on executing someone else’s plan and start looking for positions where you’ll solve novel problems. Or you realize “autonomy” matters most, so you filter out jobs that are pure execution and look for roles with decision-making authority. The values become a decision filter—not just abstract principles.

How to Do a Personal Values Card Sort: Step-by-Step

The process is simple: sort, narrow, rank, reflect. Here’s how it works in practice.

Step 1: Get the Cards

Where to access free versions:

• Miller’s original PDF from University of New Mexico (50+ values, public domain)
• Dr. Jenny Shields online tool (interactive, confidential)
• The Good Project from Harvard (35 values, mobile-friendly)
• ValuesCardSort.com (various versions)

You can use physical cards or online/digital versions—both work fine. Different versions have different numbers of values (40-54 depending on the deck). All work. Pick the one that’s easiest for you to access.

Step 2: Initial Sort into 5 Piles

Sort all the cards into five categories:

• Not Important
• Not Very Important
• Neither Important nor Unimportant
• Somewhat Important
• Most Important

Move quickly. Trust your gut. Don’t overthink individual cards at this stage—you’re looking for patterns, not perfect precision.

Time estimate: 10-15 minutes for initial sort.

Step 3: Narrow “Most Important” to 10 Maximum

This is the hard part.

You’ll probably have 15-20 cards in your “Most Important” pile. The instructions say maximum 10. That feels impossible. You’ll want to cheat.

Don’t.

Use comparison: “If I could only have one of these two, which would it be?” It’s okay to move cards back to “Somewhat Important.” The goal isn’t to say other values don’t matter—just to identify priorities. Some values are actually means to an end. Financial security, for example, might be a means to freedom. If that’s true, keep freedom and move financial security down.

Step 4: Rank Your Top Values 1-10

Optional but valuable: put them in order.

Again, use the comparison method. No ties allowed—that forces prioritization. Some values will feel impossible to rank. Rank them anyway.

Step 5: Reflect on Your Choices

Look at your top 5-10. Ask yourself:

• Which surprised you?
• Which did you already know but haven’t been honoring?
• Are any of your top values in conflict?
• How does your current work honor or violate these values?

Total time: 20-30 minutes. You can do this alone or with a career counselor. It’s normal to second-guess yourself. Some values are easy to dismiss, others impossible to rank. That’s part of the process.

Common Struggles (and How to Handle Them)

If you’re stuck, you’re doing it right. Values card sorts force difficult choices—that’s the point.

The struggle to narrow down values isn’t a sign of confusion. It’s a sign you’re taking the exercise seriously.

“I Have 15 Values in ‘Most Important’ and Can’t Narrow Down”

Use forced comparison. “If I could only have one of these two, which would it be?”

Remember: the goal isn’t to say other values don’t matter. It’s to identify priorities. Which values are actually means to an end? If financial security is really about freedom, keep freedom and move security to “Somewhat Important.”

“My Top Values Seem to Conflict With Each Other”

Common examples: Adventure vs. Security. Creativity vs. Financial Stability.

Values don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Seek both/and, not either/or. How can you honor both in different seasons or contexts? Acceptance and Commitment Therapy materials emphasize that values guide action even in the presence of competing priorities. You don’t have to choose one forever.

“My Values Don’t Match My Current Job—Now What?”

This realization can be uncomfortable. Sit with it.

You have options: job crafting (reshaping your current role to better align), career pivot, side projects to honor neglected values. Clarity doesn’t mean immediate action—it means informed decisions. You now have language for what’s not working. That’s the first step.

“My Top Value Feels Uninspiring” (e.g., Financial Security)

Practical values are valid. Financial security is often foundational—it enables other values like freedom, contribution, or adventure.

Ask: What does this value make possible? If financial security is top, maybe it’s because you need stability to pursue meaningful work without panic. That’s not boring. That’s self-awareness.

What to Do After You’ve Identified Your Values

Your values aren’t meant to sit in a journal collecting dust. They’re a decision-making filter—a lens for evaluating every opportunity, conversation, and choice.

After completing the card sort, use your top 5-10 values as a decision-making filter. When evaluating job opportunities or career changes, ask: “Does this opportunity honor my core values?” and “Which of my values would this role support or violate?”

Use Values as a Decision Filter

When evaluating job opportunities, run them through your values filter.

Specific questions:

• Does this role honor my top 3 values?
• Which values would thrive? Which would suffer?

Example: If “autonomy” is a top value, look for roles with decision-making authority, not execution-only positions. If “learning” is top, prioritize companies known for professional development over those that hire experts and expect them to stay in their lane.

Evaluate Your Current Role

Audit: Which of your top values does current work honor? Which does it violate?

Score each value 1-10 on how well your current role supports it. Identify patterns. Are most values unsupported? Or just one critical value? If it’s one, maybe the fix is smaller than you think.

Identify Values-Based Actions

Not all values can be honored at work—some require outside activities.

Example: If “community” is a top value but you work remotely in a role with minimal collaboration, seek community outside work. Join a professional group, volunteer, or build connection through hobbies. The job doesn’t have to satisfy every value.

Job crafting research shows that people can reshape current roles to better align with values—changing tasks, relationships, or how they perceive their work.

Make Values-Informed Decisions

When choosing between offers, values alignment often matters more than salary. I know that sounds idealistic. But if you’re miserable, the extra $10K doesn’t help.

When considering a career pivot: Which path honors more of your core values?

Daily decisions: “Does saying yes to this project honor my values or violate them?” If a project demands 80-hour weeks and “family” is your top value, you have your answer.

Connect to Broader Purpose/Calling Journey

Values are one piece of finding work worth doing. You also need to understand your skills, the impact you want to make, and your story.

This exercise is a starting point, not the destination. If you’re exploring where calling comes from, values clarification helps you understand what matters—but you’ll also need to explore how your unique experiences shape what you’re here to contribute.

How Values Card Sort Compares to Other Career Assessments

Career assessments measure different things. Interests tell you what you enjoy. Skills tell you what you’re good at. Personality tells you how you operate.

Values tell you why it matters.

MIT Career Advising identifies four critical keys to career success: interests, skills, personality, and values. Values provide the “why” that makes other factors meaningful—the difference between knowing what you can do and understanding what’s worth doing.

Here’s a concrete example. You might be skilled at project management (skill), enjoy organizing systems (interest), and be detail-oriented (personality). But if “creativity” is your top value, project management might still leave you unfulfilled. The skills and interests are there—but the “why” isn’t aligned.

All four are useful. Values clarify which opportunities are worth pursuing. If you want to explore other career assessment tools, values work is the foundation that helps you interpret the rest.

When to Revisit Your Values

Values aren’t fixed at birth. They shift as you grow, experience life, and encounter new challenges.

Core values tend to be stable, but priorities may shift. Revisit your values every 2-3 years or after major life transitions—career changes, relationship changes, significant life events—not because values are fickle, but because priorities evolve with experience.

When to revisit:

• After a career change or major promotion
• Following a significant relationship change (marriage, divorce, loss)
• When you achieve a major goal you’ve been working toward for years
• After experiencing loss or hardship that shifts perspective
• When work that used to feel meaningful now feels empty

Life experience provides new context for understanding values. What mattered at 25 looks different at 35. What you prioritized before kids might shift after. Revisiting isn’t starting over—it’s recalibrating.

Taking the Leap

You can complete this exercise in the next 20 minutes. And when you do, you’ll have language for what matters most—a compass for every decision ahead.

This exercise doesn’t tell you what job to take. It gives you a lens to evaluate opportunities. And that clarity is worth the 20 minutes.

Next steps:

• Access a free card sort and complete the exercise now
• Use your top values to evaluate your current role
• If you’re exploring how to choose the right career path, values are the starting point
• For deeper work on calling and purpose, explore finding purpose and direction

This list is not worth much if you don’t take some action. Do the exercise. Name what matters. Then use it.

I believe in you.