Values & Needs: The Compass Within
The Transformation Formula • Part 2
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
In “Clarity: The Superpower of Transformation,” I invited you to look honestly at where you are, the outer landscape of your life. You created your first Life Inventory and brought clarity to your reality.
Now, it’s time to turn inward.
If clarity is the light of rebirth, the flame that awakens the Phoenix within, your values and needs are the compass and magnetic field that show you which direction to go. Because even when you have a map, you can still feel lost if you don’t know which way is true north.
Your Inner Compass
Imagine holding a compass in your hand. No matter where you stand, in the desert, the forest, or the middle of a storm, the needle always finds its way back to north.
Your values quietly orient you toward what truly matters. Your needs are the magnetic field that moves the needle, the unseen forces that drive your behaviors and emotions. And your thoughts are the wind around the compass, shaping how your values and needs express themselves.
When your thoughts, values, and needs are aligned, you move with clarity and confidence. When they pull in different directions, you feel stuck, no matter how hard you try. True transformation unfolds gently, like the Butterfly, through awareness, patience, and inner alignment.
True transformation begins when your thoughts, values, and needs speak the same language. That’s when alignment is born.
Why Most People Feel Lost
Many people have never defined their values or understood their core needs. They chase success, approval or comfort, not realizing that what they’re really seeking is the fulfillment of an unspoken need.
We’re taught how to succeed, but not how to align.
We measure progress by what we have, not by how we feel.
Before you set a direction or define goals, uncover your compass: your values (what matters), your needs (what sustains you), and your thoughts (the energy that guides you).
Part 1: The Values Inventory, What Truly Matters to You
Your values are the invisible threads that weave your life together. They shape decisions, relationships, and meaning.
When you live in alignment with your values, life feels steady. When you don’t, you feel tension and confusion even if everything “looks good.”
Step 1: Identify Your Core Values
Read the list below and highlight the ones that resonate deeply:
Achievement • Adventure • Authenticity • Balance • Beauty • Compassion • Connection • Contribution • Courage • Creativity • Discipline • Family • Freedom • Friendship • Fun • Growth • Health • Honesty • Integrity • Joy • Kindness • Learning • Love • Order • Peace • Recognition • Security • Service • Spirituality • Success • Trust • Wisdom
Step 2: Narrow It Down
Choose 10 that feel most important. From those, select 5. Then choose your Top 3 Core Values, the non-negotiables.
Reflection Questions:
Which values have guided me at my best?
Which, when ignored, have caused pain or regret?
Step 3: Reflect on Alignment
Ask yourself:
Am I living these values daily?
Where are they reflected in my life?
Where are they missing?
Awareness of these gaps is not failure, it’s power. Once you see where your values are honored or ignored, you can realign your energy.
Part 2: The Needs Inventory, What Fuels You
If values are your compass, needs are the fuel that keep you moving.
When your needs are met in healthy ways, you feel energized. When they’re unmet or met in unhealthy ways, you feel drained.
Step 1: Rate Your Needs (1 - 10)
Rate each core human need from 1 (low) to 10 (high) based on how fulfilled it feels in your life today.
Certainty / Safety: Stability, comfort, security.
Variety / Adventure: Change, excitement, new experiences.
Significance / Meaning: Feeling valued, purposeful.
Connection / Love: Belonging, intimacy, empathy.
Growth: Learning, progress, evolution.
Contribution: Giving beyond yourself, impact, service.
Step 2: Identify Dominant and Unmet Needs
Mark your top 2 highest and bottom 2 lowest scores.
Reflect:
How am I meeting each need?
Are my methods healthy or draining?
What new habits could meet these needs better?
Step 3: Notice the Patterns
Behaviors are often strategies to meet needs:
Overworking → Significance
People pleasing → Connection
Controlling → Certainty
Change the strategy, not just the behavior, and your energy shifts immediately.
Integration: Alignment of Values, Needs & Thoughts
You’ve now mapped three inner layers:
Values – what matters most.
Needs – what fuels you.
Thoughts – the stories that steer you.
When all three align, decisions flow naturally. You stop pushing against yourself and begin to move with your truth.
Closing Reflection
Awareness is the beginning of all alignment. When you know your values, you know what matters. When you understand your needs, you know what sustains you. When you observe your thoughts, you can choose a better story. This is where awareness becomes transformation, the sacred work of the inner Alchemist.
Together, they create the inner architecture of your life, the bridge between intention and action.
Take a moment to reflect:
Which of my top values am I honoring or neglecting?
Which needs are being met or unmet?
What is my inner dialogue telling me each day?
This is the clarity that leads to direction.
“Clarity precedes mastery”
In the next blog titled “Direction: Where Do You Want to Go?”, we’ll connect the dots. You’ll use your clarity, values, and needs to chart your future, your own North Star and the life you design by choice, not by default.
Live by Design, Not by Default.
Until the next horizon,
Coach • Traveler • Believer in Intentional Living
