Excavate core values before writing goals
Identify what you most fundamentally care about before deciding what you want — or goals will be other people’s.
Key takeaways
- What it is: Identify what you most fundamentally care about before deciding what you want — or goals will be other people’s.
- Why it works: Self-concordance theory (Sheldon & Elliot) shows that goals pursued for intrinsic or identified reasons (genuine alignment with values) produce more sustained effort, higher well-being on attainment, and more persistent pursuit after setbacks than goals pursued for external or introjected reasons. Values-excavation before goal-setting increases the probability that goals pass the self-concordance test.
- Evidence: Backed by observational / correlational evidence.
- Avoid: Listing values from a pre-made list ("honesty, growth, connection") without testing each against actual memory — borrowed values produce goal lists that look good but do not sustain motivation.
Why it works
Self-concordance theory (Sheldon & Elliot) shows that goals pursued for intrinsic or identified reasons (genuine alignment with values) produce more sustained effort, higher well-being on attainment, and more persistent pursuit after setbacks than goals pursued for external or introjected reasons. Values-excavation before goal-setting increases the probability that goals pass the self-concordance test.
How to do it
- 1Set a timer for 15 minutes and write freely: "What I most deeply care about, when I strip away what I should care about, is ___."
- 2Read what you wrote and identify the three to five values that appear most frequently or feel most charged.
- 3For each value, write one real example of a time you honored it — this separates genuine values from aspirational ones.
- 4Use only values confirmed by real examples as the foundation for your future-life narrative.
What the evidence says
ObservationalSelf-concordance theory is supported by multiple studies showing that intrinsically motivated goals produce greater attainment and well-being than externally motivated ones.
Honest caveat: Most self-concordance research measures goal orientation at baseline and tracks outcomes; the specific writing exercise that increases self-concordance is the broader life-crafting intervention context.
- — Sheldon & Elliot (1999), goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Common mistake
Listing values from a pre-made list ("honesty, growth, connection") without testing each against actual memory — borrowed values produce goal lists that look good but do not sustain motivation.
IX Coach prompts values excavation before setting any goals, asking for the real example that confirms each value rather than accepting a label.
Practice this with IX Coach →