1. Compose Three Short Stories

Reflect on memorable professional experiences:

  • Recall moments that have made a significant impact on your life.
  • Consider instances where you:
    • Tackled challenges head-on.
    • Felt inspired to act on an idea.
    • Experienced a sense of pride in your accomplishments.
  • Choose three work and/or volunteer experiences.
  • Craft short stories to describe these memorable experiences in more detail.

There are several reasons for developing these short stories:

  • Discovering insights: Your stories might reveal important things about what is important to you.
  • Making connections: Sharing stories with emotions can help you connect with others
  • Improving communication: Your stories can help you talk about your experiences authentically, whether you're chatting casually or in a formal situation

Use your Workbook to capture your three short stories. Add a title and/or keyword that helps you remember each story. 

Useful Tip:

Effective stories include a beginning, middle, and end, and can be composed in about 3-4 lines.  Use the prompting questions in the table below to assist the story development process.

Once you've written your three stories, continue on to the Step 2: Identify skills, Values, and Strengths.

Beginning Middle End
How did you become involved?

What motivated you to become involved?

Were others involved?
Describe the situation.
What did you do, what was involved?
 
What did you do to succeed with the task?

What skills did you apply and enjoy executing?
As an example, writing, leading, facilitating, researching, event planning.

Note: Skills are verbs.

How did you benefit?

What strengths did you use?

Why do you remember this experience?

What was the outcome?

What values emerge from your stories? Some examples are: a chance to learn something new, monetary rewards, being part of a productive team, and being considered an expert in that area.