About Character Compass
Character Compass is a values-based orientation process that helps you see what matters clearly, understand it in relation, and develop the inner structure to live with purpose and coherence when something doesn’t feel right.
This work didn't come from theory.
It came from a question I couldn't ignore.
Explore The Story of Character Compass:
Continue The Journey:
I didn’t set out to create a system.
I set out to make sense of what I was feeling.
At the time I was working as a personal trainer and studying life coaching, trying to understand what helps people create and sustain lasting change.
They didn’t just want to exercise.
They wanted to become a different version of themselves.
Healthier.
Stronger.
More confident.
More alive.
Many of the people I trained came with physical goals, but our conversations went far deeper. They would open up about their lives, their struggles, and the patterns they felt stuck in.
As I studied coaching and personal development, I became increasingly interested in mindset and belief work — how what we think and feel shapes behaviour and why people struggle to create lasting change.
The more I explored belief systems, the more I began to see that something deeper was underneath them.
Values.
The Question
Questions about belief, identity, and what truly matters had been there long before this.
I grew up in a family where my father, uncle, and grandfather were all pastors. From an early age, I was surrounded by conversations about faith, service, integrity, and what it means to live a life guided by values.
At the same time, something kept standing out to me.
People spoke deeply about their values, yet when life tested them, those values were not always lived as they were expressed.
It wasn’t that they didn’t believe in them.
It was that something else was driving their actions in those moments.
Watching that tension left me with a quiet question that followed me for years:
What does it actually mean to live by your values?
And just as importantly:
How do you know which values are truly yours?
My path moved through the public school system, outside the structure they were raised in, which gave me a different vantage point — both inside that world and observing it.
Those questions didn’t stay abstract. They followed me into how I began working with people.
When It Became Real
As that work deepened, I began building a life coaching practice alongside my role at the gym.
It was created to support a gap I kept seeing — where real change came not just from exercise, but from mindset, values, and the choices people made each day.
I had seen that misalignment in many places.
But at one point, it became real for me.
I was told I had to choose:
stop what I was building and stay,
or leave entirely.
I wasn’t willing to stop what I was building.
How could values like honesty and integrity be displayed on the walls, and not lived when it mattered?
In that moment, something in me collapsed.
Not just professionally.
Internally.
What I had been observing from a distance suddenly became real.
What I believed were shared values felt hollow.
I felt disoriented, unsure of what was real.
If we could claim the same values and act in completely different ways, what did those values actually mean?
I began questioning whether the values I believed I shared were even mine at all.
For the first time, I didn’t know what truly anchored me.
The Search
That’s when the search intensified.
I went through more personality tests, belief work, values exercises — everything I could find that claimed to offer answers.
And they all led back to the same approach.
Across all of them, I kept running into it:
Judgement and hierarchy.
You’re given a list of values.
Then you rank them.
Integrity versus honesty.
Freedom versus security.
Authenticity versus belonging.
You’re asked to decide which one is “more important”.
To pick one over another.
And still, it just didn’t feel right.
Because values aren’t meant to compete with each other.
They exist in relationship.
Looking back, I can see I had already been exploring this in a different way.
In my university thesis work, I was drawn to creating structures the mind could inhabit, complete enough to engage with, yet open enough for someone to bring their own meaning into it.
I was trying to make something internal tangible,
without fixing what it should mean for someone else.
Even then, I could see that systems for self-understanding relied on predefined categories.
While helpful, they shape identity from the outside in.
I could feel there was something more there.
I just didn’t know how to access it yet.
Seeing Differently
After leaving the gym, those questions stayed with me, but now with more weight.
In the months that followed, that sense of something unresolved deepened — in my thoughts, my notes, and the things I was working through.
Art had always been how I processed life, even before I had language for what I was trying to understand.
Drawing, painting, and sculpture were where I explored questions, emotions, and experiences that didn’t yet have words.
When working on a piece, I would constantly turn it, looking at it from different orientations as I worked to resolve it.
Top.
Bottom.
Left.
Right.
A piece only felt complete when it held its own integrity from every angle.
And then, while painting in my studio, as I was in the middle of mixing a colour, something shifted.
It didn’t come through trying to figure it out.
It came in the quiet, intuitive way creative insights often do.
And it felt familiar.
As if I wasn’t creating something new,
but recognizing something that had always been there.
In that moment, I could see my life differently.
What appeared was not another list of values competing with one another, but a living structure — where each value related to the others, and together revealed how I was navigating life, what I was drawn toward experiencing, and what was guiding my decisions.
I sat there, in stillness, taking it in.
It felt incredibly simple.
And at the same time, profoundly revealing.
I set the brush down, picked up a pencil, and began writing, giving it my full attention as it came through, filling large sheets of paper with what I was seeing and understanding.
The ideas came quickly, as if they were arriving faster than I could capture them.
What emerged became the foundation of what is now Character Compass.
What struck me most was how simple it was.
It didn’t tell me what my values should be.
It gave me a way to see what was already true, and how it all relates.
And it’s something I’ve continued to return to, each time seeing more.
What It Revealed
What I saw in that moment stayed with me.
Values are not just nice words to frame on a wall.
They are the ground we stand on when everything else falls away.
They are the quiet strength behind hard decisions,
the steadying pulse in moments of doubt,
the colours of our being, even when the world feels gray.
Values are not abstract.
They are lived.
And when they are not lived, we feel it.
Not because the values are unclear,
but because something in us is out of alignment.
Values are the compass we carry, but don’t always know how to read.
Character Compass gave me a way to see what mattered clearly, understand it in relation, and live it with integrity.
It’s a way to return to your centre,
and move forward aligned with what is true for you.
| Guided by What Matters Most
What I’ve learned through my own searching is something many of us know deep down: it’s easy to move through life without pausing to name our deepest values. We sense them in the background, but don’t always bring them into focus. We long to live from them, yet it isn’t always clear how to honour them.
Values are the heartbeat of how we live. They shape our choices, reveal what drives us, and quietly define who we are becoming. When we don’t name them, life can feel scattered and uncertain. When we do, we begin to reclaim our power and stand grounded in who we are.
This is why Character Compass exists. It creates the pause most of us rarely take. It helps you name what matters most, reconnect with yourself, and reshape how you show up for others and the world. It brings meaning back to the centre of life.
| A Compass for Living What Truly Matters
Mission
To help people see what matters clearly, understand it in relation, and live their values in daily life — forming a living map of what matters that can be seen, felt, and lived.
Vision
A world where people live by what truly matters, and respond in alignment with it when it matters most.
| Live Your Values
At the heart of Character Compass are values that live in action.
They are the ground beneath our choices,
steady as breath and flowing like water,
living commitments that shape how we live
and guide what we create.
The values below are my own.
They are not offered as a template to adopt, but as an example of what values can look like when they are named, embodied, and lived with care.
This is the kind of relationship to values that Character Compass helps make possible.
Integrity
noun
“I am whole in myself. I move from inner alignment rather than force, allowing my actions to arise naturally from what’s true. I remain intact in the face of challenge by staying present with myself and the moment as it is.”
Compassion
noun
“I connect deeply and lead with care and consideration. I offer my presence without expectation or demand, honouring the heart and humanity of others.”
Curiosity
noun
“I am drawn to what lies beneath the surface. I meet people and ideas with openness and interest, letting truth reveal itself in its own time.”
Longevity
noun
“I choose to live consciously. I care for my energy, my body, and my life with consistency and resilience, by attending to what creates and sustains growth.”
Harmony
noun
“I live and create with great respect for people and the planet. I see our interconnectedness, trust my inner strength, and navigate differences with kindness and understanding.”
Honour
noun
“I live by design, not default, guided by courage, clarity, and conviction. I trust my heart and intuition, meet what is with respect, and act in service of what’s innately good for my authentic self, others, and the planet.”
Simplicity
noun
“I remove what’s not essential. I appreciate the inner essence and beauty in life, and refine how I live so I can move with grace, strength, and ease, staying focused on what truly matters.”
Loyalty
noun
“I am steadfast in my commitment to the truth of my heart and soul. I give fully from my heart, with love, gratitude, and joy, choosing relationship without betraying myself.”
Faith
noun
“I have full and complete trust in the Universe. I surrender. I let go and allow the power of life to unfold and move through me, trusting that my actions are guided and that timing is divine.”
These values are not static.
They are lived, refined, and expressed differently over time.
Character Compass does not give you these values.
It supports you in discovering your own, and in learning how to live them in ways that feel true, grounded, and alive.
This is how values move from words into life.
| A Life Shaped by Values
To live a life shaped by values is to move beyond routine. It is to weave conscious choices into the fabric of daily life. Over 15 years of guiding others has shown me that integrity, discipline, and service build resilience into every step, far beyond physical training alone. My progression from art into wellness reflects creativity and growth, reminding me that who we become is shaped by how we live, each day.
A life shaped by values is lived in the ordinary moments. It is presence in how we move, compassion in how we meet others, and strength of heart in how we face challenges. These simple choices become roots that hold our ground, turning routines into a meaningful way of living.
I've learned through lived experience that the values I live by are held together by something quieter beneath them: a commitment to moving without urgency, listening deeply, and allowing life to unfold at its own pace.
I'm Simon Asmus, founder of Character Compass. My path from art into fitness, coaching, and integrative practice reflects a lifelong commitment to growth, integrity, and living by values.
| From Self to Society
This work begins with the individual.
What emerges through personal orientation moves into relationship, shaping how we relate, decide, and live together. When values are understood in relation to one another, they form a structure that extends beyond the individual.
Values in relationship, held as a living structure.
The Wider Work
These are expressions of the same work,
extending into different areas of life.
Map of What Matters
A movement of meaning, made together.
It takes form as an artwork created from the values of people across the world.
Through Character Compass, each person contributes their values, colours, and meaning — making values visible in relationship and giving structure to how we understand, relate, and move together. Combined, these form a collective self-portrait of humanity, reflecting what we hold dear, what we love, and what we are here to protect.
This is not only art.
It is remembrance.
One Organic Thread
Living Values. Mindfully Made. Weaving Change.
A material expression of Character Compass, where values are carried into everyday life through what we wear. Each piece reflects what matters, supporting embodiment, personal expression, and the practice of living from those values.
Global Values Revival
Remembering the soul of the world.
A movement of values in action.
As people begin to live from what matters, something shifts beyond the individual. Values are expressed, shared, and lived in relationship. Personal clarity becomes collective movement, and a shared field begins to emerge, shaping how we relate, create, and care for one another across families, communities, and culture.
Together, these initiatives carry Character Compass beyond the individual, extending its impact into culture, lifestyle, and daily practice. Each one contributes to a movement shaping how values are lived and shared.
| Begin Your Journey
Every life is shaped by values, whether we name them or not.
The question is whether we learn to live them.
There is a difference between getting through life
and feeling alive in it.
If something in you recognizes this,
you don’t have to navigate it alone.
You begin with what is true now, and the work grows with you from there.
When you create your Compass, you also contribute to the Map of What Matters — a living map that grows with what people hold most deeply across the world. As more people participate, shared patterns begin to emerge, revealing how our values connect and relate.
A place to return to what matters.