Values Worksheet (Free Template + Filled Example)

A values worksheet helps a coaching client name the handful of values that matter most to them, rank them when they compete, and check how closely their current week matches that ranking. The free template below has five parts: a 48-value list, a narrowing round, a forced ranking, values-in-action prompts, and a one-week experiment. A filled example follows it, then a plan for running it across one or two sessions. Copy it into a document, adapt the bracketed fill-ins, and it is ready for your next client.

We make Coachful, so here is where it fits: Coachful is where the worksheet can be sent before a session, completed by the client in their branded app, and stored on the client record next to their goals, check-ins and session notes. You can run the same template on paper or in a Google Doc, and the comparison table further down shows the trade-offs of each route.

What should you decide before you use this values worksheet?

Make six choices before you send anything: when it appears in the engagement, how long the client spends on it, whether they rank alone or with you, and where the answers live afterwards. These choices change the wording of the instructions, so settle them first and then edit the template once.

If your client is weighing a specific choice rather than looking at their life in general, pair this worksheet with the decision matrix worksheet and use their top five values as the matrix criteria.

What is in the free values worksheet template?

The template has an instruction block for the client, five numbered parts, and a short closing note for the coach. Copy everything from the heading "My Values Worksheet" down to the end of part 5. Replace each [bracketed] item with your own details.

My Values Worksheet
Client: [client first name] · Coach: [your name] · Date sent: [date] · Please complete parts 1 and 2 by: [day before session]

Before you start. Values are the qualities you want your life and work to stand for, the things you would still care about if nobody was watching or keeping score. There are no right answers here and nobody grades it. Choose what is true for you today, not what your family, your manager or social media says you should value. Plan on about [25] minutes for parts 1 and 2. We will work through parts 3 to 5 together in our session on [session date].

Part 1. The values list: first sort

Read each value once. Put a mark next to every value that feels important to you, without overthinking it. Aim for 12 to 20 marks. If a word you care about is missing, add it in the blank lines at the end.

1. Adventure
2. Autonomy
3. Balance
4. Belonging
5. Calm
6. Challenge
7. Community
8. Compassion
9. Competence
10. Courage
11. Creativity
12. Curiosity
13. Faith or spirituality
14. Fairness
15. Family
16. Financial security
17. Freedom
18. Friendship
19. Fun
20. Generosity
21. Growth
22. Health
23. Honesty
24. Humour
25. Independence
26. Influence
27. Integrity
28. Justice
29. Kindness
30. Leadership
31. Learning
32. Loyalty
33. Mastery
34. Nature
35. Order
36. Patience
37. Play
38. Recognition
39. Reliability
40. Respect
41. Responsibility
42. Rest
43. Security
44. Service
45. Simplicity
46. Status
47. Tradition
48. Wisdom

My own words: [blank line] [blank line] [blank line]

Part 2. Narrow to ten, then define them

From your marked values, choose the ten that feel most like you. If two words mean the same thing to you (for example Freedom and Independence), combine them and keep the word you prefer. For each of your ten, write one sentence that starts with "To me, this means...". Your definition matters more than the dictionary's.

• Value: [ ] · To me, this means: [ ]
• Value: [ ] · To me, this means: [ ]
• (repeat for ten lines)

Then answer two quick questions:

• Which of these ten would you be most uncomfortable giving up for a year? [ ]
• Which one did you choose partly because you feel you ought to? Be honest; you can keep it. [ ]

Part 3. Rank your top five

We will do this part together. From your ten, choose five and put them in order, 1 being the one you would protect first if two values pulled you in different directions.

1. [ ]
2. [ ]
3. [ ]
4. [ ]
5. [ ]

Tie-break. If two values are hard to separate, picture this: [a situation from your own life where both are at stake, for example "a promotion that pays more but means two nights a week away from home"]. Which one decides it? Write it here: [ ] wins over [ ] when [ ].

Check the ranking. Read your five aloud. Does anything feel wrong in that order? If yes, move it and note why: [ ]

Part 4. Values in action: what does your week say?

Use real evidence from the last seven days. Have your calendar, messages and bank app open if that helps.

1. Where did most of your waking hours go last week? List the top three uses of time: [ ] [ ] [ ]
2. For each of your top five values, rate how much last week reflected it: 0 (not at all), 1 (a little), 2 (clearly), 3 (fully). Write one piece of evidence next to each rating.
   Value 1: [rating] · Evidence: [ ]
   Value 2: [rating] · Evidence: [ ]
   Value 3: [rating] · Evidence: [ ]
   Value 4: [rating] · Evidence: [ ]
   Value 5: [rating] · Evidence: [ ]
3. Describe one moment last week when you acted in line with your number one value. What made it possible? [ ]
4. Describe one recent decision, big or small, that went against one of your top five. What were you protecting instead? [ ]
5. Which of your top five gets the least of your time right now, and what usually crowds it out? [ ]
6. If someone watched your week without hearing you speak, which three values would they guess you hold? [ ]

Part 5. One small experiment for this week

Pick the value with the biggest gap between its rank and its rating. Design one action you can take in the next seven days that would raise that rating by one point.

• The value I am working on: [ ]
• What I will do, specifically: [action, day, time, place]
• What might get in the way, and my plan for that: [ ]
• How I will know I did it: [a calendar entry, a message sent, a habit ticked]
• One thing I will say no to, so this has room: [ ]

Coach note (delete before sending): Book a 10-minute review of part 5 at the start of the next session. Revisit the ranking at [program midpoint date] and in the final session; rankings often shift once the client starts acting on them, and the change is useful material.

Why does each section of the worksheet matter?

Each part does one job: the list gives clients words, the narrowing forces choice, the ranking reveals trade-offs, and the action prompts test the ranking against evidence. The table shows what to watch for as a coach in each part.

The ranking step draws on a long line of values research. Shalom Schwartz's theory of basic human values treats values as a system in which some sit in tension with each other, such as security against stimulation, which is why ranking produces more insight than a list. The values-in-action prompts borrow the spirit of the "committed action" idea in acceptance and commitment therapy: values are directions you act towards, not boxes you tick. You are coaching, not delivering therapy, so take the idea, not the clinical protocol.

For a longer list and more variations on the sorting step, see our core values assessment with 60 values. If you want a deeper session plan for the conversation itself, the 7-step values clarification exercise walks through it question by question.

What must coaches add to a values worksheet?

Add a scope line, a short privacy note, and niche-specific swaps to the value list. A values exercise touches identity, faith, family and money, so it can stir more than clients expect.

• Scope line. Add one sentence to the instruction block: "This worksheet is a coaching tool for reflection and planning. It is not therapy or a mental health assessment." If you are a licensed clinician who also coaches, be clear which role you are in for this engagement.
• When to pause and refer. Stop the exercise and suggest a qualified professional if part 4 brings up hopelessness, thoughts of self-harm, signs of an eating disorder, substance dependence, or distress from past trauma that the client cannot set down at the end of the session. Have local crisis line details ready before you run it. Refer and follow your own written referral process.
• Sensitive information. Answers can reveal religion, health, sexuality or family conflict. In the UK and EU, religious beliefs and health data are special category data under the GDPR. Tell clients where their answers are stored and who can see them, and keep only what you need.
• Coaching for an employer. When a company pays, agree in the coaching agreement that the worksheet stays between you and the client unless they choose to share it. Sponsors sometimes ask; settle it in writing first. See our coaching contracts page for how agreements work in Coachful.
• Cultural fit. Values such as Tradition, Family or Faith carry different weight across cultures. Do not treat a high rank on Tradition as a limiting belief to be worked on. If you want to work with beliefs as well, keep that as a separate exercise, such as our limiting beliefs worksheet.

Niche swaps keep the list in the client's language:

• Career and executive coaches (career, executive): add Impact, Expertise, Team, Craft and Visibility; replace part 4's calendar review with "your last two weeks of meetings".
• Relationship coaches: run parts 1 to 3 separately for each partner and part 4 together, comparing rankings rather than merging them.
• Health and wellness coaches: add Energy, Vitality and Self-care; keep any health detail out of the worksheet and in a clinical system if a clinician is involved.
• Life coaches (for life coaches): keep the list as is; the full 48 covers most life areas.

What does a filled values worksheet look like?

The example below is fictional, written to show the level of detail that makes the worksheet useful. "Priya" is a made-up client: a 38-year-old operations manager who came to coaching because she feels busy but not moving.

Example only. Fictional client.

Part 1. Marked 17 values, including Family, Growth, Reliability, Creativity, Health, Financial security, Fun, Learning, Autonomy and Friendship. Added her own word: "Making things".

Part 2, three of her ten definitions.
Creativity: "To me, this means making something with my hands at least once a week, not just fixing other people's spreadsheets."
Reliability: "People can count on me to do what I said, on the day I said."
Family: "Being properly present at dinner with my two kids, phone in another room."
Least willing to give up: Family. Chose partly because she ought to: Financial security ("my dad's voice").

Part 3, ranked. 1 Family · 2 Health · 3 Creativity · 4 Reliability · 5 Growth.
Tie-break: "Reliability wins over Creativity when my team has a deadline, but not every week." She moved Reliability below Creativity after saying the order aloud: "If Reliability is above it, I will never paint again."

Part 4, ratings. Family 1 (home after 8pm three nights). Health 1 (two runs skipped). Creativity 0 (no painting since spring). Reliability 3 (covered for a colleague twice). Growth 2 (finished an online course module).
Recent decision against a value: said yes to running the office quiz night, which took Thursday evening, the one free night she had kept for painting. Protecting: being seen as dependable.
Observer guess: "Reliability, work, being busy."

Part 5, experiment. Value: Creativity (rank 3, rating 0). Action: paint for 45 minutes on Sunday at 4pm at the kitchen table, materials set out on Saturday night. Obstacle: kids' football runs late; plan: move to 6pm, not cancel. Evidence: a photo of whatever she painted, posted to her coach. Saying no to: answering work messages on Sunday.

Notice what made the example work: the definitions are concrete, the ranking changed when spoken aloud, and the experiment is small enough to do this week. The observer question did most of the work in the session; once Priya said "being busy" aloud, the conversation moved quickly. From here a coach might turn the experiment into a weekly goal, as described in our goal setting worksheet.

How do you run the values worksheet in a coaching session?

Run it across two touchpoints: parts 1 and 2 as homework, then a 45 to 60 minute session for parts 3 to 5. A rough agenda:

1. Check in (5 minutes). Ask how the sorting felt. "Easy" and "surprisingly hard" both tell you something.
2. Read the ten aloud (5 minutes). Ask the client to read each value and their definition. Listen for a definition that sounds like someone else's voice.
3. Rank (15 minutes). Let them drag cards or reorder a list on screen. Ask "what would that order cost you?" whenever they swap two values.
4. Values in action (15 minutes). Work through part 4 with their calendar open. Reflect gaps back without judgment.
5. Design the experiment (10 minutes). Shrink it until the client says "yes, I will actually do that".
6. Close (5 minutes). Agree where the worksheet lives and when you will look at it again.

For clients who prefer to sort on screen, the values ranking tool covers the sorting and ranking interactively, and the client can copy their top five into part 3. If you want a short prompt the client answers before every later session, our pre-session worksheet templates are a good home for a short follow-up question, such as which value showed up most that week.

How should you send, complete and store the worksheet?

You can send it as a file, a shared doc, a form, a signed document or through practice software. The deciding question is whether the answers end up beside the rest of the client's work, where you will actually see them again in month three. Vendor prices below are as listed on each vendor's pricing page in October 2026.

A PDF works fine if you run the worksheet once and never return to it. The other tools in the table each cover parts of a practice, as their pricing pages describe; CoachAccountable is priced per active client and Practice Better is built mainly for wellness and nutrition practitioners. If the worksheet is meant to shape the next twelve weeks, it helps to have the answers sitting where the weekly goals and check-ins live, which is the gap Coachful is built to close. Our coaching forms and questionnaires page shows the other forms that sit alongside it.

How do you set up the values worksheet in Coachful?

Add the worksheet as a Forms & Worksheets resource, attach it to the session or program where it belongs, then link the experiment in part 5 to a goal, habit or check-in. Here is how it fits into the client journey, step by step.

Step 1: add the worksheet as a resource

In Coachful, resources include courses, articles, downloads, videos, AI tools and Forms & Worksheets. Create the worksheet there, pasting in the five parts from the template above. If you would rather not build it yourself, the team will build a form or worksheet for you through the white-glove service (more on that below).

Step 2: decide where it appears in the journey

Clients usually meet a values worksheet after the first few steps of the journey are done:

• Booking and intake. Intake questions on booking capture the goal and basic context. Keep values out of intake; a single question such as "What matters most to you about this change?" is enough.
• Agreement. The coaching agreement, with e-signature, is sent before the first call and stored on the client record. Put your confidentiality and scope language there.
• Session 2 or 3. Send the worksheet as pre-session work, so it shows up in the client's coaching hub before the call.
• Program weeks. Turn the experiment into weekly goals, daily tasks and habits inside a multi-week program.
• Check-ins. Use a morning or evening check-in flow to ask the client how their number one value showed up that day.
• Invoices. Payments go through your own Stripe Connect or Razorpay account, with an invoice per transaction, so the worksheet sits in the same account as billing.

Step 3: what the client sees

The client opens your branded app inside Coachful and sees their next session, the pre-session work that is due, and their programs, progress and documents in one place. They complete parts 1 and 2 there before the call, and their answers stay with the rest of their record for you to review during the session.

Step 4: turn part 5 into a habit or check-in

The experiment is the part most likely to be forgotten by the following Tuesday. Coachful supports habits with streaks, goals with progress bars, and morning and evening check-ins, so "paint for 45 minutes on Sunday" can become a weekly habit linked to a goal called Creativity. This short walkthrough shows how check-ins are set up:

Step 5: revisit it at the midpoint

The client record holds goals, check-ins, habits, notes, intake answers, sessions and payments, and shows each client as thriving, active, quiet or at risk. Michelle, the built-in AI assistant, can brief you before a session from that live data, which is a quick way to see whether the value your client ranked first is showing up in their check-ins. Asking Michelle questions is included in your Coachful membership; confirmed builds and changes use AI credits.

Why Coachful stands out: a free white-glove service. From Create, choose "We'll build it for you · FREE" and describe what you want: a form or worksheet, a program, a funnel, a website, an email sequence and more. You can attach up to 8 reference links and up to 10 files, such as this template and your brand guide. The Coachful team builds it inside your own account, usually within about 24 hours, and leaves gaps for you rather than inventing credentials, testimonials or prices. It does not cover recording videos, logo design or ad management. Read more about the free white-glove service.

What is Coachful, and who is it for?

Coachful is a coaching platform: one subscription covers booking, payments, contracts, programs with habits and check-ins, courses, a community, a website with funnels and email, and an AI assistant, with one login for you and one branded app for your clients. It suits coaches who deliver programs rather than one-off sessions, solo coaches growing into a small team, and coaches replacing four to six separate tools.

What it does not do: Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and offers no BAA, so it is not for clinical record-keeping or insurance billing. It has no PayPal and no permanent free plan, and the client app ships under the Coachful listing with your branding rather than under your own App Store account. To start, take a free trial and ask the team for a white-glove build of your worksheet or program. Current plans: (Lite: $29/month for up to 5 clients; Solo: $49/month for up to 20 clients; Pro: $99/month with unlimited clients; Studio: $199/month with unlimited clients).

What are the most common mistakes with a values worksheet?

Most problems come from running it too early, too fast, or as a one-off. Watch for these:

• Sending it at intake. Before rapport, clients choose the values they want you to see. Wait until session 2 or 3.
• Skipping definitions. Two clients who both pick "Freedom" may want opposite things. Part 2 is not optional.
• Stopping at the list. A ranked top five with no evidence check is a nice poster. Part 4 is where the coaching happens.
• Judging the gaps. If you sound disappointed when a value scores 0, the client will inflate the next rating. Treat gaps as data.
• Steering the ranking. It is tempting to nudge a client towards Health or Courage. Ask questions; do not suggest an order.
• Designing an experiment that is too big. "Prioritise family" is a wish. "Phone in the hallway at 6.30pm on Monday and Wednesday" is an experiment.
• Losing the worksheet. If the answers sit in a download folder, nobody revisits them. Store it where you will see it before the midpoint session.
• Using it as a diagnostic. A values worksheet is a reflection tool. It does not assess personality or mental health, so do not present results that way.

A related point on energy: clients who rank Health or Rest highly but rate them 0 often benefit from an energy audit worksheet as the next exercise.

Is this values worksheet legal, medical or financial advice?

No. This worksheet and article are general information for coaches, not legal, medical, psychological or financial advice. Coaching is not therapy, and a values exercise is not a clinical assessment. If you work with clients who have a mental health condition, are in crisis, or are in active treatment, ask their clinician whether the exercise is appropriate and refer when the conversation moves beyond coaching. If you store answers that include health or religious information, or you coach across borders, ask a lawyer familiar with data protection law where you and your clients live to review your privacy notice and agreement.

If you plan to sell an adapted version of this worksheet, read our guide to turning a coaching worksheet into a paid digital product first.

Values worksheet FAQ

Is this values worksheet free to use with clients?

Yes. Copy it, edit the bracketed fill-ins and use it with paying clients. If you sell it as a product, rewrite it in your own words and add your own examples.

How many values should a client end up with?

Five ranked values is the most practical number. Ten is useful as a middle step, but more than five makes the ranking too loose to guide decisions, and fewer than three tends to miss whole areas of life.

How long does the values worksheet take?

Parts 1 and 2 take most clients 20 to 30 minutes on their own. Parts 3 to 5 fit in a 45 to 60 minute session. Allow longer if the client is facing a big decision.

Should clients complete it alone or with the coach?

Both, split by part. Sorting and defining values works best alone and unhurried. Ranking and the values-in-action questions benefit from a coach asking what each choice would cost.

How often should a client redo the worksheet?

Revisit the ranking at the program midpoint and in the final session, and again after a major life change such as a new job, a move or a new child. You do not need to redo the full list each time.

What is the difference between values and goals?

A value is a direction you keep moving in, such as Creativity; a goal is a point you can reach, such as finishing six paintings by June. Use the worksheet to choose the direction, then the SMART goals framework to set the next point on the way.

Can I use this with couples or teams?

Yes. Have each person complete parts 1 to 3 separately, then compare rankings together in part 4. With teams, keep individual answers private unless people choose to share them.

What is the free white-glove service in Coachful?

It is a build service included on every plan: you describe what you want, such as this worksheet as a form, a program or a website, and the Coachful team builds it inside your account, usually within about 24 hours. It does not include recording videos, logo design or ad management.

Can I store values worksheets in Coachful if I am a therapist?

Coachful is not HIPAA-certified and does not sign a BAA, so clinical records belong in a clinical system. Coachful fits coaching work, where the worksheet is a reflection tool rather than part of a treatment record.

Where can I find more values exercises?

Try our values clarification exercise for linking values to real choices, and the core values assessment for a 60-value list.