Priority Quiz
Choose between pairs of life values. No right answers, only honest ones. Your results reveal what you truly rank first.
You'll see 15 pairs of values. For each pair, choose which matters more to you right now, even if both feel important. Trust your instinct.
About this tool
A few years ago I had a long conversation with a close friend about what we each valued most. We gave thoughtful answers, family, freedom, purpose, but I realized I had no idea whether those were my actual priorities or just the ones that sounded right. When I actually had to choose between two things I cared about, I was never sure I was choosing for the right reason.
I built this quiz to answer that question more honestly. The method is simple: compare two values at a time and pick one. You cannot say both. After fifteen comparisons across ten life values, a ranking emerges. It is not a permanent verdict. Values shift with age and circumstance. But the gap between what you say you value and what you actually choose? That gap is worth sitting with.
Frequently asked questions
Each of the ten values starts at zero wins. In every pair comparison, the value you choose receives one point. After fifteen rounds, values are ranked from highest to lowest by their total wins. A value that won five out of five comparisons ranks at the top; one that lost every comparison ranks at the bottom. The ranking reflects your revealed preferences: what you consistently chose when forced to decide.
The ten values are: Health (physical and mental wellbeing), Family (deep bonds and belonging), Freedom (autonomy and self-direction), Growth (learning and evolving), Connection (friendship and community), Creativity (expression and making), Security (stability and safety), Purpose (meaning and legacy), Simplicity (depth over noise), and Wisdom (understanding and perspective). These were chosen to cover the major dimensions that appear most frequently in values research and philosophical ethics.
Most people complete the fifteen comparisons in two to four minutes. The quiz is designed to be answered by instinct rather than analysis; the more you deliberate on each pair, the less the result reflects your genuine values. If you find yourself overthinking a choice, that hesitation itself is data: it suggests those two values are genuinely close in priority for you right now.
Yes, click "Retake the quiz" to reset all scores and start again. It can be useful to take the quiz twice: once quickly by instinct, and once more slowly with deliberation. If the rankings differ significantly, the gap between the two results is worth reflecting on. The instinctive answers often reveal what you actually prioritize; the deliberate answers reveal what you think you should prioritize.
The most useful application is alignment checking: look at how you spent your time and energy in the past week, then compare it to your top three values. If you ranked Freedom highest but spent most of your time on obligations that left you no discretion, there is a gap worth addressing. The quiz doesn't tell you what to do; it surfaces the conversation you should be having with yourself about how you're living.