How to do a values card sort
A step-by-step guide to the Personal Values Card Sort, online or with printed cards. Most people finish in 15 to 25 minutes.
A values card sort helps you work out, in your own words, what matters most to you. You go through a deck of value cards, such as family, honesty, adventure, and independence, and place each one in a pile by how important it is to you. Then you narrow the most important pile down to the handful that matter most and write a little about each one.
A value is different from a goal. You can finish a goal, like getting the job or running the marathon. A value is a direction you keep choosing, like health, honesty, or family, and there’s no day when you’re done being honest. That’s why values help with ordinary decisions. Most days don’t involve a big goal, but nearly every day asks how you’ll spend your time and how you’ll treat people.
The deck on this site is the Personal Values Card Sort, 83 values written at the University of New Mexico in 2001 by William R. Miller and colleagues. Miller is a co-founder of Motivational Interviewing. The research page has more on where the deck came from. The four steps below are the same online, on paper, and in the app.
Before you start
Online. Open the card sort on a phone, tablet, or computer and choose the adult deck. It walks you through every step, saves your place as you go, and keeps everything you enter on your device.
On paper. Print the card deck, ideally on card stock, and the recording worksheet. Lay the three sorting pile cards out in a row, shuffle the value cards, and fill in the worksheet as you go.
If you’re doing this with a child or a younger teen, use the shorter youth deck instead. The kids and teens page explains how it works.
There are no right or wrong answers. Sort by what is true for you now, not by what should matter or what other people expect.
1Sort every card
Look at one card at a time and place it in Not Important to Me, Important to Me, or Very Important to Me. For each one, ask how important that value is to you as a guide for your life. Read the short meaning under the name, since the meaning is what you’re sorting. Go with your first reaction.
Putting a value in Not Important to Me doesn’t mean you think less of it. It only means it isn’t central for you right now. Some cards will be hard to place, and those are often the ones that tell you the most. If something that matters to you isn’t in the deck, add it with “Add your own value” online, or write it on one of the blank cards in the printed deck.
Once every card is sorted, the online sort shows all three piles together. You can move a card to a different pile before you continue.
2Narrow to your top 10
From your Very Important to Me pile, choose the ten values that feel most central to who you are, the ones you would protect first. For most people this step takes the longest.
You’ll probably have far more than ten Very Important cards, so this step means setting aside values you care about. If your pile has ten cards or fewer, keep them all and go on.
3Choose and rank your top 5
From your ten, choose five. If you could live by only a handful of values, which would they be? Then put the five in order of importance, with the one you could least do without at the top. Don’t overthink the order.
The five you leave out still matter. Online, your results list them as “Also important to you.”
4Reflect in writing
For each of your five, write a few words about why it matters to you and how you’re living it right now. These questions can help:
- Why is this value important to you?
- How are you living it right now?
- What would living it more fully look like?
- Where does your life pull against it?
- What is one small, doable action this week that would move you toward it?
Some of your answers may show a wide gap between a value and how you’re living. Don’t treat that as a failure. You wouldn’t feel the gap if the value didn’t matter to you.
Write as much or as little as you like. Online this step is optional, and your words appear on your printable results. On paper, use the worksheet. Try not to skip it, even if you only write a sentence or two. Research on brief writing about personal values suggests it can help people stay open to change, and the research page has the details.
An example
Maya isn’t a real person. She’s 38, works in hospital billing, and has two kids. She’s been thinking about going back to finish her degree. Her Very Important to Me pile ended up with 21 cards. She narrowed it to ten, chose five, and put them in this order.
Her top 5 values, ranked
- Familyto have a happy, loving family
Reflection
My kids are why I work as hard as I do. Right now I’m home for dinner about two nights a week, and I want it to be most nights.
- Growthto keep changing and growing
Reflection
I keep saying I’ll finish my degree. This was the card I hesitated on longest, which probably means something.
- Healthto be physically well and healthy
Reflection
Mostly sleep. I’ve been getting about six hours a night for a year, and it shows up in everything else.
- Knowledgeto learn and contribute valuable knowledge
Reflection
I like understanding how things work, not just getting through them. My job doesn’t give me much of that right now.
- Humorto see the humorous side of myself and the world
Reflection
It’s how our family gets through hard weeks. I almost left it out because it seemed unserious, but I’d miss it.
Also important to her
HonestyFriendshipInner PeaceAutonomyPurpose
Reading her five together, Maya saw that Family and Growth were competing for the same few evening hours. For her first step, she decided to look up next semester’s class schedule on Sunday night, after the kids were in bed. She picked it because it fit into a night she was already home.
Reading your five
Once your five are in front of you, read them as a set. None of the patterns below are good or bad, but each one can tell you something about your list.
All about other people
If every value points toward other people, such as Caring, Family, Helpfulness, and Service, those are real values and you don’t need to talk yourself out of them. Still, ask where you show up on that list.
Chosen or inherited
Some values we chose, and some we inherited from family, faith, or culture. An inherited value can belong to you as much as one you picked. Working out which is which, and then keeping an inherited one on purpose, often changes how it feels to live by it.
Values that didn’t make it
A value you expected to pick and didn’t can say as much as the five you kept. So can a value you’ve organized your life around that turned out not to make the list.
Two that compete
Two of your five may pull against each other, such as Autonomy and Family, Caring and Health, or Safety and Growth. Most people have at least one pair like this, and it doesn’t mean you sorted wrong. It usually marks where your hardest choices come from, so think about how you balance the two now and whether that still fits.
The widest gap
Look for a value near the top of your list that hardly shows up in your days. That’s usually a good place to start.
If you get stuck
Almost every card feels very important
Nearly every value sounds good on its own, so this happens to most people. Keep sorting. The next two steps are designed for a big pile, and choosing between values you like is the reason they exist.
You catch yourself picking what you’re supposed to value
A value you share with your family or culture still counts if you hold it yourself. When a card makes you think “I’m supposed to pick this,” ask whether you’d still pick it if nobody ever saw your list.
Two cards seem like the same thing
Read their meanings side by side. Loving is about giving love, and Loved is about receiving it. Autonomy is about deciding for yourself, and Independence is about not depending on others. Plenty of people care a lot about one of a pair and much less about the other.
The order won’t settle
Try comparing two at a time and asking which you would keep if you could keep only one. If that doesn’t settle it, pick an order and move on. You can always sort again later.
The sort stirs something up
Seeing your values next to how your life looks right now can be uncomfortable, especially when the two feel far apart. If it brings up something painful, take a break. A therapist, a counselor, or someone you trust can help you talk it through.
After the sort
Keep your five somewhere you’ll see them. Online, you can download your results as a PDF, print them, or copy them. When a choice comes up, ask which option fits your five better.
Your top five describes this stretch of your life, not who you are for good. Online, you can save a session file and compare a later sort with it, or compare your sort with a partner’s. The app keeps your past sorts and shows what changed since the last one.
If you’re doing the sort for therapy, bring your top five in order with your notes, plus anything that surprised you and any cards that were hard to place. The values exercises page has more ways to work with your values, including a version for groups. Therapists and counselors can find a suggested session structure on For therapists.
Questions people ask
How long does it take?
Most people take 15 to 25 minutes. You don’t have to finish in one sitting. The online sort saves your place on your device, and the app does too.
Is this the same as the Personal Values Card Sort?
Yes. The 83 values and their meanings are the Personal Values Card Sort by W. R. Miller, J. C’de Baca, D. B. Matthews, and P. L. Wilbourne, which the authors placed in the public domain. The wording follows the original cards.
How often should I do it again?
There’s no set rule. Some people sort again once a year, and others after a big change, such as a move, a new job, or a loss. If you saved a session file the first time, the online sort can show the two side by side.
Can I do it with a partner?
Yes. Each person sorts separately, without conferring, and saves a session file at the end. “Compare with a partner’s sort” then shows both top fives side by side, with the values you share and the ones that are yours alone.
Do I need a therapist to do this?
No. It’s a reflection exercise you can do on your own, and it doesn’t diagnose anything. Your results can still be good material for therapy, coaching, or a conversation with someone close to you.
Try it now
Start the card sort Print the cards
The free app for iPhone, iPad, and Android has the same sort, keeps your past sorts, and compares your last two.
