8 Most Important Moral Values to Excel in Life

Moral values are highly essential in a person’s life as it directs them and encourages them to move ahead in their life. It forms the basis of a person’s goodness. Moral value plants multiple character traits that help a person build a positive personality. In a world that constantly evolves, the importance of moral values remains timeless. These values serve as the foundation upon which we build our relationships, make decisions, and contribute to the collective well-being of society. From empathy and integrity to responsibility and compassion, each moral value carries its unique significance.

In this article, we will be discussing the 8 most important moral values that are very important to excel in your personal and professional life. So, let us begin by understanding what moral values are.

What are Moral Values

Moral values meaning is a set of principles essential for every human being to become responsible towards his/her duties. These values help a person distinguish between what is good and what is bad. Moral character formation is a crucial process that needs to start in infancy.

Children with moral values can be guided in the right direction and develop a positive personality and solid character. In addition to the child’s family, schools play a crucial role in directing, assisting, and holding their hands as they make their way through the maze of moral ideals.

Every child or student should be instilled with good moral principles and an upright moral compass from a young age. Every parent and school needs to develop the meaning of moral values, and set moral values examples in front of children. These examples are the best way to develop the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.

Also Read: How to build interpersonal skills.

8 Most Important Moral Values

It is essential to know the moral values for students and how they can instill them in life. These moral values are mentioned below:-

1. Honesty

Honesty is the most important moral principle that should be instilled in an individual. People must understand the true significance of honesty, they grow more honest as a personality attribute if they are honest with their companions as well as surrounding people.

It is also said, “honesty is a virtue, it is an excellence of character”. Honesty stands as a strong attribute that helps to build the strength of character that will allow you to be a prominent service to others.

When you know you did a mistake, and it caused trouble to someone or the situation, admitting your mistake is an act of honesty. Accepting your mistake in front of everyone you cast your honesty.

Honesty at Workplace

Honesty as a moral value, not only helps you in your personal life but also showcases you as a reliable professional. One of the best examples of being honest toward your work is given by Abraham Lincoln. During his early days before becoming the President, he was called “Honest Abe”, the incident which gave him this name was his honest working ethics as a young store clerk.

Once while working in the store, he short-changed a customer mistakenly. And to return those few pennies to the customer, he walked miles and returned the accurate change. This is called being honest to your work, whether you are working as a clerk for a small store or running a nation as President.

2. Empathy

When you learn to seek things from other person’s perspectives, learn to feel what others feel, it allows you to respond to a situation appropriately. This is the act of empathy, being empathetic means having the ability to feel others and understand others’ points of view.

Empathy develops a person’s behavior, their character as well as personality. It contributes to a person’s way of approach. Hence, being empathetic is very important and beneficial as it would help you to handle different situations and manage them efficiently.

Empathy at Work

In a meeting, different kinds of people remain present, and eventually, the opinion of everyone may not match. When you try to look at the agenda or subject of the meeting from another person’s perspective, you value their opinion. You empathized the person.

For example, during meetings and even outside working hours you should listen and try to acknowledge and support your colleague’s point of view on any topic. This ensures that everyone feels heard, included and supported. This way you can create an empathetic environment. 

3. Gratitude

Appreciating someone’s work or something anyone has done for you, provokes a sense of gratefulness. It presents a feeling of positive emotions and helps you to relish good experiences. This act of depicting your fulfillment in return to someone’s action is gratitude.

Gratitude encourages the expression of gratitude for assistance or work performed by others. The start of it all is joy. Encourage yourself to express gratitude for what they have in life to instil a sense of pleasure and gratitude.

It is very common, we all have helped someone or have been helped by someone very often. When you acknowledge their work or thank the person for their help, you show your gratefulness towards them. That’s the act of gratitude or appreciation.

Showing Gratitude at Work

You can show gratitude at your workplace in many ways, say a colleague helped you in completing a project on time by staying back with you and helping. You can show your gratitude by thanking him/her verbally and giving credit to their hard work. Small gestures like saying thank you, eating lunch together, and being there for each other are some ways to show gratitude.

4. Respect

Since it is a fundamental moral ideal, one must learn about respect early on. One must learn to respect everyone, regardless of age, religion, nationality, beliefs, or point of view. You must be desiring to be recognized by others, be valued by others, and the same others expect from you. This is the act of showing respect.

Respecting everyone is the first and foremost thing to establishing a core value in life. Respect is always gained when it is given. You must have heard the very common saying “Give respect to gain respect”.

Elders should set an example for younger people by respecting others because older people have a moral obligation to learn more through observation. Respecting your elders is the very common yet most important example of showing respect. When you listen to their advice or respond to their directions, it depicts that you respect them.

Respecting your Coworkers

Did you know that 26% of employees in a study were ready to quit their jobs due to lack of respect between colleagues?

Therefore, when it comes to the workplace, you can show your respect for your seniors, coworkers, and even subordinates by using appropriate language and phrases to address them. Moreover, you should avoid making any negative comments and avoid gossiping. This way you can create a respectful and peaceful working environment for everyone, including yourself.

5. Kindness

Even while the importance of kindness is undoubtedly great, it depends on how you show it. There are countless ways to make a difference, including fairness, acceptance, kindness, and thoughtfulness. Kindness is all about treating people the way you want to be treated. It drives ethical decisions and helps in harmonizing relationships.

When you are kind to someone, you make them feel valued and respected. Being benevolent or showing empathy are examples of kindness. It could also mean acting morally without anticipating being rewarded.

Being polite, being generous, and being empathetic, all constitute act of kindness. When you find your colleague in a trouble, listening to his words patiently and communicating politely with him represents being kind.

Kindness at Work

You should stick to your kind nature even in unlikely situations. For example, a co-worker disagrees with your views on a project and is cutting you in mid-sentence.

Instead of doing the same, you can smile and kindly say that I acknowledge your point but it is my right to present my views independently too. When you smile and maintain your kind and polite nature you can conquer any situation.  

6. Benevolence

The value of benevolence promotes healthy relations with others. It encourages people to build harmonious relationships, trust, and help others maintain coordination and cooperation. As a core moral value, benevolence helps a person gain respect due to their amiable behaviour. The sense of compassion, generosity, decency, and virtue is portrayed through the act of benevolence. It helps in depicting good intentions towards others.

Benevolence is quite similar to kindness, just like previously having a warm approach to others and helping them with their needs is the act of benevolence.

How to be benevolent in professional life?

You can grow the feeling of benevolence at your workplace too, by playing your part through small but crucial actions. For example, having genuine appreciation for leadership qualities and guidance of your seniors, without expectation or desire of getting praised or promoted. This shows your benevolent personality.

7. Forgiveness

Forgiveness is considered one of the most important moral values to adopt in life. It is the act of letting go of anger or cold feelings due to any unfavorable situation and resentment towards people you have been hurt by. Anger and ego make situations more complex and rigid instead of simplifying them. Hence, forgiving others is very essential.

The act of forgiveness encourages you to acknowledge others’ improper actions or behavior, and free off anger or resentment that may be bothering you.

Forgive and Forget

Practicing forgiveness can be difficult, but not impossible. And as a working professional, you should be able to forgive people if you want to work peacefully. For example, if you face a situation like this, where a co-worker takes the whole credit of the project on which you both worked.  What will you do? You can’t create a scene in front of clients.

In such cases, you need to be patient and acknowledge the said co-worker after the meeting. Ask them why they did so, listen and forgive them. But make it clear to them, that you would not tolerate such incidents in the future.

8. Self-Discipline

The most important and essential moral value in one’s life is self-discipline. Self-discipline is the root of achieving your goals. It enables people to be consistent and stay focussed on their goals. It is the act of having faith and trust in yourself, staying consistent with your plans, and pushing yourself towards achieving your goals.

Self-disciplined people are more devoted to their aim and their work, while people who lack self-discipline mostly lose track and control over their actions. Hence, self-discipline is a very crucial moral value in life.

Everyone has a goal in their life, when you decide to achieve your goal and begin working for it with all your effort, it is an act of self-discipline. When you stick to your commitments and drive yourself to complete your tasks even when obstacles are there, that’s being self-disciplined.

Self-Discipline in Professional Life

You can practice self-discipline at your workplace by doing some simple tasks. For example, every morning write a to-do list of the day and promise yourself to complete all the important tasks before the end of the day. You should have the self-discipline not to abandon a complicated task but to tackle it with full force and complete it.

Related read: Scope of Sociology

Importance of Moral Values

A student’s life is filled with obstacles, adjustments, development, and evolution. Throughout their school years, developing youngsters absorb many lessons, most of which they carry with them for the rest of their lives. While those with a lack of moral standards become a menace to themselves and society, students with high ethics and values become accountable, honest and responsible people.

While there are countless advantages to instilling moral ideals in our children, the following are a few reasons why moral values are crucial to do so from an early age.

1. Builds strong character

Early exposure to values aids in forming the child’s character and the fundamental essence of who they are. The qualities and values children learn during their youth serve as a solid basis for their future moral convictions, resulting in strong character development.

2. Helps differentiate between right and wrong

Moral values are a benchmark for defining good and wrong from the outset. While students occasionally engage in bad behaviour like bullying or exam cheating, they often lack an understanding of right and wrong.

3. Improves self-confidence

When kids accomplish something well, they often feel proud of themselves, which increases their motivation and boosts their confidence.

This self-affirmation of being able to help others or give back helps individuals build positive feelings and relationships in their lives. It also helps to enhance their confidence.

4. Helps inculcate polite behavior

Today’s kids will fill the most crucial roles and become tomorrow’s doctors, businesspeople, engineers, scientists, legislators, police, and so forth.

The proper instillation of moral principles begins at a young age since the virtues you teach your children now will shape how they act as adults.

5. Stay positive

Good moral principles serve as a moral compass that keeps kids away from harmful peer pressure, online predators, and other influences as they enter adolescence or adulthood. Children who feel good about themselves will be better able to withstand harmful peer pressure.

Are Moral Values Essential in Career?

Moral values are the assets of a person’s life, it encompasses a person’s character, personality, and demonstrate the appropriate behavior towards self and others.  Moral values allow people to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong, it enables them to conclude the right decisions that are respectful and thoughtful to everyone.

Not only for the present life but also moral values play a significant role in the future. It carves a person’s future path for all their life decisions. It directs them to take the right decision and act accordingly.

Moral values are also important in professional life because they are the basis of trust between people and provide a standard of behavior that encourages respect, integrity, and fairness.

Read more about life skills.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)