An amazing exercise I recently went through with my business coach was to uncover common themes in my life – or my “word streams”.
It started with an epic writing session – about 12 pages of my life story starting from as far back as I can remember, up until the day I finished writing (some time last week), then plucking out the words that stood out.
Looking at a bunch of words that summarise me is actually kinda cool – and I love the idea that I potentially share some of these with lots of people.
The point of the exercise: Mostly, we likely know our values, drivers, and deal-breakers, but this exercise helped me understand some underlying traits that I have to both embrace, and come to terms with at the same time.
Sharing it publicly wasn’t part of the exercise – being quite introverted and fiercely protective of my privacy, it’s a pretty wild thing to share. But I’m cool with it 🙂
So here’s me 👋 if you see yourself anywhere in here, feel free to say hi.
- Bratty
- Needy
- Easily hurt, fragile
- “Good” kid
- Against the grain – if everyone is doing something one way, I want a different way
- Wasn’t a “one group” kid – liked to mingle
- Sport nut
- Love athletics
- Insecure
- Love my family
- Care about my friends
- High expectations of myself
- Keen powers of observation
- Strong personal values
- Mouthy – can antagonise a bully
- Clear with goals, always known where I was aiming
- Enjoy getting praise, but dislike attention
- Don’t like being “told” what to do
- Dreamer – lots of ideas and goals but don’t always start
- Fear of being inferior
- Naive
- Moments of extreme patience
- Moments of extreme rage
- Not great at asking for help when I’m in deep
- Can ask for help when I can see the path forward
- Pride is a downfall
- Sometimes get obsessive about an idea and see it all the way through
- Can be measured, considered and balanced
- Adventurous
- Easily offended when my family is dismissed, the only time I hold a grudge (I think)
- Believe respect is earned and not commanded, and go the opposite way on people who command it without earning it
- Family family family (just like dad)
- Protective of family and friends
- Despise racism and ‘hate’ talk
- Can be judgemental
- Compassion
- Solitude
- Appreciate privacy
- Get annoyed with nosiness and people disrespecting the privacy of others, especially if it’s the privacy of my fam/friends
- Very protective of people I love
- Loyal – I place a high importance on being available for someone if they’re part of my life
- Dedicated – If I’ve committed to something, I work hard to keep that commitment sometimes to my own detriment
