Clues to a Successful Future -- Step 3
I have written two posts on the Clues to a Successful Future technique.
Those first two posts covered Steps 1 and 2:
Step 1 : Think about and write down 20 accomplishments from your life. I documented this on May 5.
Step 2: Narrow that list down to seven accomplishments -- your favorite and the ones that are most significant to you. I posted this step on May 17.
Now, it's time for Step 3.
STEP 3: Write a step-by-step description of each accomplishment. Look closely at those seven examples, and then plan to use at least one page for each. You can write these detailed descriptions on your computer, or by hand -- it does not matter. But each one is going to be a single story. You can use bullets to capture the steps, or write them in a paragraph form. The point is that your description is detailed and descriptive. Think of it as if you were writing a recipe.
For each accomplishment's description, be sure to address each of these four questions:
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What motivated you to take action? For example, "I did not want to embarrass myself publicly or in front of my friends." You motivation is yours -- it can be external or internal -- you may have been motivated by something in you, or by some outside force. Were you trying to avoid something, or trying to obtain or get something? These are all different types of motivators.
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What skills did you use? Remember, these should be skills and abilities that you enjoyed using. Examples of skills are something you were able to DO -- math skills, ability to communicate in a way that was effective, ability to organize information, people, or things, ability to analyze several things and generate a conclusion based on that analysis, or some other kind of skill.
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What personal characteristics did you use, leverage, or demonstrate through the accomplishment? Personal characteristics are different from activity-based skills -- they are often nouns, like your personality, your imagination, your integrity or commitment to something like accuracy or truth.
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What was the topic or area, or subject of the accomplishment? For example, community, family, a pastime, a "talent" like music or art or writing, or faith or religion?
After you have dug into each of the accomplishments and identified the four items above, will come step 4.