What matters most, and what you'll do about it

Values clarification is one of the most underused tools in CBT, partly because it’s been associated more strongly with ACT and partly because it produces effects that are slower than symptom-reduction work. The clinical value shows up in cases where the client is stuck not because they can’t manage symptoms but because they don’t know what they’re symptom-managing toward. The work feels directionless, the engagement drifts, and treatment quietly stalls.

This worksheet runs the values work as a structured exercise. The client lists the life areas that actually exist in their week (family, friendships, health, career, creative work, faith, community, learning, money, whatever fits) and rates each on importance. Then they write a concrete goal for each. The combination of importance rating plus concrete goal is the lever. A client who rates family at 9 and writes a goal of “have dinner with my kids three nights a week” is generating something testable. A client who rates family at 9 and writes “be a better parent” is reporting that they don’t yet know what acting on the value would look like.

Use it early in treatment for clients who arrived saying they feel directionless or aren’t sure whether their life is on track. The rating exposes the gap between stated importance and actual investment, which the client usually hasn’t surfaced explicitly. Use it again at end-of-treatment as part of relapse prevention. The two snapshots compared show what’s shifted across treatment, and the comparison itself is often a source of consolidation that no symptom-tracking can deliver.

The clinical move at submission review. Look for areas rated 8+ where the goal is vague or absent. That’s the gap between value and action, and it’s often the conversation that keeps treatment moving. Look for areas the client included even though they rated them low. The fact that they bothered to include them suggests there’s something there. And push back on clients who rate every area at 8+. The point isn’t to want everything. It’s to be honest about which two or three actually drive their decisions right now. A client who can’t prioritise is reporting either avoidance or a deeper identity question worth working with.

In my-cbt, the worksheet is one of the bundled system templates. Assign it from the case file with a personal message that frames it as values orientation rather than self-evaluation. Submissions save in the case file, and you can re-assign it at end of treatment to compare against the early one.