The Values Shortlist
Funnel 200 values down to your core five to guide decisions
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 83%
The Values Shortlist is a roughly twenty-minute exercise that turns a fuzzy sense of self into a prioritised list. You find a large published list of common values (around 200), then progressively narrow: pick 20 that resonate, cut to 10, then to a final 5. The mechanism relies on forced scarcity. Because nearly every value on the list, such as honesty, compassion, independence, family, or creativity, sounds reasonable, the work is in ruthlessly choosing between good options and being honest that, say, you value independence more than compassion. Sbeghen frames values as the core pillars of identity that change far less than the 'true self' myth. Once you have your top five, they become a lens for deciding whether your current life aligns, and Abdaal notes it clarified his own career away from medicine toward freedom and autonomy.
Origin
Recommended by Jemma Sbeghen on Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal as a value dictionary or value tapestry exercise she did recently and found powerful for clarifying identity in your twenties.
Core principles
- 01Values are the stable core pillars of identity
- 02Forced narrowing is where the honesty happens
- 03Almost every listed value sounds reasonable, so you must choose
- 04Your top values become a lens for real decisions
How to run it
- 1
Gather the long list
Search online for the top 200 most common values and get them in front of you, printed or on screen.
- 2
Pick 20 that resonate
Scan the full list and select the twenty values that feel most like you.
Watch out Expect almost all of them to seem reasonable; that is why narrowing matters.
- 3
Cut to 10
Halve the shortlist by removing ten, keeping only the values that matter most.
- 4
Choose your top 5
Force the final cut to five core values such as independence, family, honesty, creativity, or curiosity.
Pro tip Be honest about what you actually value, not what you aspire to value.
- 5
Check alignment
Ask whether you are actually living by these five, and if not, whether you are misaligned or lying to yourself about them.
Pro tip Re-run the exercise periodically; consistent results reveal your real priorities.
In the wild
Every version of the find-your-values exercise Abdaal tried during lockdown landed on independence, autonomy, and freedom at the very top. That consistent result clarified that medicine, being somewhat misaligned with those values, was probably not the right long-term career for him, helping him decide what to do next.
→ A prioritised value list became a clear lens for a major career decision.
Common mistakes
Listing aspirations not realities
Choosing values you wish you had rather than the ones you actually act on produces a list that cannot guide decisions.
Refusing to narrow
Keeping too many values because they all sound good defeats the exercise; the honesty is in the cuts.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone in their twenties unsure who they are or how to make aligned life and career choices.
Not ideal for
People seeking a fixed permanent identity rather than an evolving set of priorities.
From the transcript
“choose 20 that really resonate with you and from that 20 find get rid of 10 what are the top 10 and from that 10…”
“it's always landed on Independence autonomy Freedom being like the absolute number one”
From the episode
Navigating Quarter-Life Crisis: Unpacking the Psychology of Your 20s - Jemma Sbeghen
Jemma Sbeghen