Most coaches know a values conversation is where the real work starts. The hard part is the worksheet. You either hand clients a generic “circle your top values” list that they skim and forget, or you spend an evening building one from scratch that still feels flat.

This values clarification exercise prompt fixes both problems. You give the AI your niche, your client, and the goal the exercise should serve, and it returns a complete, printable worksheet that walks the client from vague feelings to a ranked top five they can act on. By the end of this page you’ll also understand why the prompt works, so the next worksheet you build is sharper.

When to use this

• A new client needs a foundation exercise before you set goals together.
• A client feels stuck or restless but can’t name what’s actually off.
• You’re building a program module and need a self-guided homework worksheet.
• A client is facing a fork-in-the-road decision and keeps going in circles.
• You want a consistent values exercise you can reuse across clients with small tweaks.

The prompt

Copy this whole block into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini:

You are an experienced life and career coach who designs clear, self-guided client worksheets. Your job is to create ONE values clarification exercise worksheet that a client can complete on their own and that produces a short, ranked list of their core values.

Before writing, ask me up to 3 clarifying questions if anything below is unclear. Otherwise, proceed.

CONTEXT
- My niche: {{NICHE}}
- The client this is for: {{CLIENT}}
- What the exercise should help them reach: {{GOAL}}
- Where this fits in my program: {{SESSION_CONTEXT}}
- My tone: {{TONE}}

TASK
Create a complete worksheet with these sections, in order:
1. A short, warm intro (3-4 sentences) explaining what values are and why ranking them matters for this client's goal.
2. STEP 1 - Spot your values in action: 5 reflection prompts that surface values from real moments (a proud memory, a moment of anger, a decision they're glad they made, etc.).
3. STEP 2 - Choose from a list: a curated bank of 30 common values as a simple list, with instructions to circle 10 that resonate.
4. STEP 3 - Narrow to your top 5: a short forced-choice method to cut 10 down to 5.
5. STEP 4 - Rank and define: a small table where the client ranks their final 5 and writes one sentence on what each value means to them.
6. STEP 5 - Reality check: 3 questions comparing how they currently spend time and energy against their ranked values.
7. A closing reflection prompt that ties their values back to {{GOAL}}.

CONSTRAINTS
- Write in plain, encouraging language at roughly an 8th-grade reading level.
- Address the client directly as 'you'.
- Keep it completable in about 30 minutes.
- No jargon, no therapy-speak, no filler. Do not invent client details beyond what I gave you.
- Format it clean and printable with clear headings, numbered prompts, and blank lines or table cells where the client writes.

After the worksheet, give me 2 quick coaching questions I can use in-session to debrief their results.

How to customize it

Replace the five {{VARIABLES}} before you send it:

See it in action (full example)

Here is the exact prompt, filled in for a career coach. This is the whole input, nothing hidden:

You are an experienced life and career coach who designs clear, self-guided client worksheets. Your job is to create ONE values clarification exercise worksheet that a client can complete on their own and that produces a short, ranked list of their core values.

Before writing, ask me up to 3 clarifying questions if anything below is unclear. Otherwise, proceed.

CONTEXT
- My niche: career coaching for mid-career professionals considering a pivot
- The client this is for: a 38-year-old manager who feels successful on paper but restless and unsure what's next
- What the exercise should help them reach: decide whether to chase a promotion or move into a more meaningful role
- Where this fits in my program: homework before our second session, done alone in about 30 minutes
- My tone: warm, grounded, lightly challenging

TASK
Create a complete worksheet with these sections... [rest of the prompt unchanged]

And here is the complete output the model returns:

Your Core Values: A 30-Minute Worksheet

You’ve built a career most people would be proud of. So why the restlessness? Often it’s a quiet sign that how you’re spending your days has drifted from what matters most to you. Values are the things you care about so deeply that ignoring them costs you energy. When you can name and rank them, the next-step decision in front of you gets a lot clearer. Set aside 30 quiet minutes and answer honestly. There are no wrong answers here.

STEP 1 – Spot your values in action

Think about real moments, not what you think you should say. Write a few sentences for each.

1. Describe a moment in the last few years when you felt genuinely proud of yourself. What were you doing, and what did it say about what you care about?
2. Think of a time at work that made you angry or frustrated. What was being stepped on or ignored?
3. Name a decision you’re glad you made, even if it was hard. What did you protect by making it?
4. When do you lose track of time in the best way? What is that activity giving you?
5. Picture someone you admire. What specific quality do you respect in them?

STEP 2 – Choose from a list

Read this list and circle the 10 words that pull at you most. Trust your gut.

Achievement, Adventure, Autonomy, Balance, Belonging, Challenge, Community, Compassion, Creativity, Curiosity, Fairness, Family, Freedom, Generosity, Growth, Health, Honesty, Impact, Independence, Integrity, Leadership, Learning, Loyalty, Mastery, Recognition, Security, Service, Stability, Status, Wisdom.

STEP 3 – Narrow to your top 5

Look at your 10 circled words. Now play a quick game: imagine you could only keep 5 of them for the next decade and the other 5 disappear. Cross out the 5 you could live without, even if it stings a little. The discomfort is the point. You’re left with 5.

STEP 4 – Rank and define

Rank your final 5 from most to least important, and write one sentence on what each one actually means to you.

Rank	Value	In my own words, this means…
1
2
3
4
5

STEP 5 – Reality check

1. Look at your #1 value. On a normal week, how much of your time and energy actually goes toward it? Be honest.
2. Which value on your list is most starved right now? What’s crowding it out?
3. If a friend looked only at your calendar from last month, which values would they guess you held? Do those match your ranked list?

Closing reflection

You’re weighing a promotion against a move into more meaningful work. Look at your top 5. Which path feeds more of them, and which value would you be asking to go hungry? Write what you notice. Bring this page to our next session.

---

2 in-session debrief questions: 1. “Which value surprised you by making your top 5, and which one surprised you by not making it?” 2. “Where was the biggest gap between your ranked values and your reality check, and what would closing that gap actually look like?”

That is ready to print and send. A 30-second tweak to the intro in your own voice and it’s client-ready.

Why this works

Three LLM principles are doing the heavy lifting here. Learn them and every prompt you write gets better:

1. Role priming. The opening line (“You are an experienced life and career coach who designs clear, self-guided client worksheets”) tells the model which slice of its knowledge to draw from. “Make me a values worksheet” pulls the bland average of the internet; naming the role and the deliverable pulls structured, coach-grade material. Always assign a role and the exact thing you want made.
2. Specificity in, specificity out. The model can only be as relevant as your input. A generic request gives a generic worksheet. Feeding it a real client (“a 38-year-old manager, successful on paper but restless”) and a real decision (“promotion vs. meaningful role”) makes the intro, the reality check, and the closing reflection all point at that situation instead of nobody in particular.
3. Constraints are quality control. The numbered section list, the 8th-grade reading level, the 30-minute limit, and the “no jargon, no therapy-speak, do not invent client details” lines each remove a common failure mode. Telling the model what NOT to do is as powerful as telling it what to do. And the “ask me up to 3 clarifying questions first” line lets it fill gaps by asking instead of guessing, which is the single biggest fix for generic AI output.

Do this now

1. Copy the prompt above into ChatGPT or Claude.
2. Replace the five variables with your real niche, client, goal, session context, and tone.
3. Send it. If it asks clarifying questions, answer them honestly.
4. Skim the worksheet, tweak the intro into your own voice, and send it to your next client as pre-session homework.

Pro tips

• Anonymize a real client. A specific, real (anonymized) client situation produces a sharper worksheet than a made-up archetype. Specificity is the whole game.
• Keep the clarifying-questions line. It’s the difference between a worksheet that fits your client and one that fits no one.
• Ask for a values bank that matches your niche. Add a line like “make the 30-value list skew toward career and work values” to get a list that fits the decision at hand.
• Generate the facilitator version too. Run it again and add “now give me a coach’s facilitation guide for debriefing this worksheet live in 20 minutes.”

Related

• Reflection & Journaling Prompt Worksheet Creator
• Goal-Setting Worksheet Builder (SMART & Beyond)
• Experiential Coaching Exercise Designer
• Single Coaching Session Plan Generator