Value Sort Reflection

Putting values in categories based on what was more important and less important to me during the Value Sort Exercise forced me to self-reflect in a way I hadn’t done before. Because most of the values seemed like they were important, this was difficult and really made me reflect on what I thought was important in my life now and what would be in the future. I learned that I valued certain things such as creativity, balance, openness, and helping others over things such as fame, success, or efficient work habits.

Values I chose as my most important included creating balance, creativity, honesty, openness, power and influence, quality, supportive relationships, and helping others. These are all relevant to what I want to do in the future, and I think can all connect to visual communications and social work. I chose creating balance because I think it is important to prioritize your well being as well as your work and helping others so you don’t get burnt out. Honesty and openness are important to me because in creative work you need to be honest about your work and not steal from others; in photojournalism it’s important to show the facts of what you’re reporting. I’m very passionate about social issues and think it is important to be open to all ideas and points of views. Power and influence were values that were very important to me because I want my work to be able to create positive change and influence others, even if it doesn’t generate lots of wealth. Some of my least important values included broad interests, faith, solitude, efficient work habits, and self-examination. I chose these as least important because I don’t see them as really benefiting me in my everyday personal or professional life. 

I see a connection between my most important values and my decision to enroll in this class because it connects to curiosity, openness, social concerns, understanding and helping others, and rewarding and supportive relationships. I was curious about life in another country and very passionate about helping the people there. I also joined this trip to form more relationships with people on the trip as well as the people we meet in Africa. 

Knowing my values could be helpful during our service projects because it helps me know what I would most enjoy doing and how I can be helping. For example, since one of my values is creativity, doing a creative project with the kids could be one of my strengths. Knowing classmates’ values could be helpful because it may be a way to connect with each other if we share values in common. I think it can also help us know each other better and therefore help us work together smoothly and get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses.