Values-Based Decision Making: A Practical Guide

What is values-based decision making?

Values-based decision making means choosing between options by considering the principles and priorities you want your actions to express. Values might include independence, care, honesty, learning or security. They describe how you want to live and work, not just what you want to obtain.

A goal is a destination: save a financial buffer, complete a qualification or run a particular distance. A value is an ongoing direction: act responsibly, stay curious or look after your health. You can finish a goal. You can keep expressing a value through many different goals.

This distinction helps when a once-attractive goal no longer fits. Declining a promotion might support your present priorities better than accepting it. Taking the promotion might be the better choice for someone else, or for you at another stage. The method is not a rule that family must beat ambition, or that security must beat adventure.

Why values help when a pros-and-cons list stalls

An ordinary list can count a small convenience and a serious cost as if they deserve equal weight. Six minor benefits do not necessarily outweigh one consequence you cannot accept. Values help you ask which differences actually matter before you start adding them up.

Research provides a useful basis for taking this seriously. In their self-concordance research, Kennon Sheldon and Andrew Elliot examined goals consistent with people's interests and core values. Across three longitudinal data sets, these goals were associated with more sustained effort and greater attainment. That supports looking at why a goal matters to you; it does not prove that a particular decision worksheet guarantees success.

Shalom Schwartz's work on basic human values also describes conflicts and compatibility between values. Wanting both stability and new experiences is not a failure to know yourself. Sometimes a good decision requires choosing which value to prioritise in this situation while protecting a reasonable minimum of the other.

1. Define the actual decision and its deadline

Write the choice as a question that can be answered. “What should I do with my career?” is too broad. “Should I accept this role, negotiate different terms or remain in my current role for six months?” gives you options to investigate.

Include the status quo. Staying put also has costs, such as slower learning or continued dissatisfaction. Equally, avoid treating a difficult decision as a forced choice between two fixed extremes. Negotiating hours, trying a smaller project or delaying a commitment may create a workable third option.

Set a decision date that matches the stakes and the information available. Buying a notebook does not need a formal process. A relocation affecting several people deserves time, discussion and practical checks. Use this framework where the trade-offs matter, not as another task for every ordinary choice.

2. Choose three values relevant to this choice

Start with moments when you felt proud, fulfilled or uncomfortable with a choice. What were you protecting or neglecting? Perhaps the issue was keeping a promise, learning something difficult or having enough energy to be present with others.

Select three values that are genuinely relevant now. A long list of admirable words offers little guidance because almost any option can satisfy something on it. Ask whether each value still matters if nobody praises you for choosing it.

Separate your values from assumptions about what other people expect. Status is not automatically a bad motive, and comfort is not automatically a good one. The useful question is whether you are choosing deliberately or accepting a priority you have never examined.

• What do I want this decision to protect?
• What would I regret repeatedly neglecting?
• Which priority matters most at this stage of my life?
• Am I choosing this because I value it, or mainly to avoid disapproval?

3. Turn each value into a practical criterion

Words such as freedom and balance can mean almost anything. Translate them into something you could observe after making the decision. If you value learning, your criterion might be regular access to feedback and work that develops a skill you want. If you value care, it might be being reliably available for an existing responsibility.

Distinguish preferences from essential limits. A shorter commute may be desirable. Being able to pay essential bills may be a requirement. Set these limits before comparing attractive features, so a high salary or exciting title cannot distract you from an option that is unworkable.

Be realistic about your freedom to choose. Caring duties, disability, financial pressure and access to opportunities affect what is possible. Values-based decisions operate within those constraints; they are not a claim that you can create any life by wanting it enough. Sometimes the best available step is small and temporary.

4. Compare the trade-offs using evidence

For each option, write one piece of evidence against each criterion. Separate facts from estimates and unknowns. Contracted working hours are evidence. Assuming the team will be flexible because the interview felt friendly is an untested expectation.

If scoring helps, give each criterion an importance weight from one to three, then rate how well each option meets it from one to five. Multiply each rating by its weight and total the results. This is a practical comparison tool, not a validated psychological test or an objective answer.

Check how sensitive the result is to your assumptions. If changing one uncertain rating changes the winner, gather information about that point. If a high-scoring option breaches an essential limit, remove it or renegotiate it. A total should never hide a deal-breaker.

Worked example: more pay or more time?

Consider a fictional person choosing between their current role and a higher-paid offer. They select financial security, family presence and professional growth as their relevant values. Their criteria are covering essential costs with a buffer, keeping four evenings a week free from work travel, and gaining regular mentoring.

Both roles cover the essential costs. The new role offers better mentoring but requires three evenings away each week, so it fails the person's current family-time limit. The answer is not automatically to reject it. They first ask whether travel can be reduced and recorded in the offer.

Suppose an amended offer meets that limit. For illustration, they assign weights of three to family presence, two to security and one to growth. They rate the current role five, three and two respectively: a total of 23. They rate the amended offer four, four and five: a total of 25.

The two-point difference is not proof that moving is right. If the new role's family-presence rating is really three rather than four, its total falls to 22. That reveals the key question: will the promised working arrangement hold? Confirming it matters more than refining every other score.

This is the purpose of the exercise. It identifies the trade-off and the information that could change the choice, instead of presenting a number as certainty.

5. Test the biggest assumption where you can

Ask what you would need to learn before committing. A conversation with a future colleague, a realistic household budget or a short trial can be more useful than another evening of thinking in circles. Choose an information-gathering step that could genuinely alter your decision.

For reversible decisions, consider a limited experiment. Before committing every weekend to a side project, try two scheduled sessions and record what they displace. Before buying a year's membership, try the activity at the time you would actually attend.

Not every decision can be tested, and a trial cannot remove every risk. For irreversible or high-consequence choices, be explicit about uncertainty and seek relevant professional advice where needed. This framework does not replace medical, legal or financial advice.

6. Commit, communicate and set a review date

Write a brief decision note: what you chose, which values it serves, what cost you accept and which assumptions remain uncertain. That note protects you from judging the original decision only through information you did not have at the time.

If the choice affects other people, discuss its consequences with them. Your values do not cancel their needs or your existing commitments. Explain the practical trade-off rather than using “this aligns with my values” to shut down a conversation.

Choose one next action and a sensible review date. Review sooner if a key assumption changes. Otherwise, give the decision enough time to produce evidence before reopening it. A difficult first week does not necessarily mean the choice was wrong; repeated breaches of an essential limit deserve attention.

A values-based decision checklist you can reuse

Copy these prompts into a journal or note and use them for one live decision. Short, specific answers are more useful than a polished statement of who you hope to become.

• Decision: What exactly am I choosing, and by when?
• Options: What are the realistic choices, including doing nothing or negotiating?
• Values: Which three priorities matter most here?
• Criteria: What would each priority look like in practice?
• Limits: What must be true for an option to be acceptable?
• Evidence: What do I know, what am I assuming, and what would change my mind?
• Trade-off: What am I willing to give up, and who else is affected?
• Action and review: What happens next, and when will I check the result?

Make your next action reflect the decision

A considered choice has little effect if tomorrow's calendar stays unchanged. If you chose learning, book the practice session. If you chose protecting time, decline or renegotiate one conflicting commitment. If you chose financial stability, identify the next practical step rather than relying on a reassuring intention.

BOALD's goals and journal give you somewhere to record the commitment and reflect on what happened. Keep the decision note short, connect it to a concrete action and review whether your behaviour is expressing the priority you chose.

You do not need a perfect ranking of everything that matters to you. You need enough clarity to make this choice honestly, accept its cost and respond when better information arrives.

Sources

Selected research and institutional guidance for the evidence-based claims in this guide.

1. Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: the self-concordance model, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

   Supports: The association between goals consistent with personal interests and values, sustained effort and goal attainment. This research does not validate the article's six-step worksheet.

2. An Overview of the Schwartz Theory of Basic Values, Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

   Supports: The distinction between values and other concepts, differences in people's priorities, and the conflicts and compatibility between values.

Frequently asked questions

What is an example of values-based decision making?

Someone comparing two jobs might prioritise financial security, family time and learning. They check each role against practical criteria, rule out offers that fail essential requirements and compare the remaining trade-offs. The right choice depends on their circumstances, not just the highest salary.

How do I identify my values when making a decision?

Reflect on choices that made you proud and situations where something important felt neglected. Pick three priorities relevant to the current decision, then describe what each would look like in observable behaviour. Avoid choosing values only because they sound admirable.

What should I do when two personal values conflict?

Name the conflict, decide which value needs more attention in this situation and set a minimum you want to protect for the other. Look for a negotiated or smaller option before assuming one value must be abandoned entirely.

Is values-based decision making the same as following your feelings?

No. Feelings can reveal concerns, but the method also uses evidence, practical constraints and consequences for other people. A values-aligned choice can feel uncomfortable, and an appealing choice can still conflict with an important commitment.

Can a decision matrix tell me which choice is right?

A matrix can make priorities and assumptions visible, but its weights and ratings depend on your judgement. Check essential limits first, investigate uncertain ratings and use the result as a discussion aid rather than a guarantee.