HOME | CONTACT

• 1. Self Assessment
  • 1.1 Pride Experiences
    • 1.1.1 My Pride List
    • 1.1.2 Writing Your Stories
  • 1.2 Personality
    • 1.2.1 Personality Checklist
  • 1.3 Values
  • 1.4 Skills
    • 1.4.1 Your Skills
  • 1.5 Interests
    • 1.5.1 Your Career Interests
    • 1.5.2 Understanding Career Clusters
  • 1.6 Knowledge
    • 1.6.1 Identifying Your Style
  • 1.7 Self-employment
  • 1.8 Integrating Your Assessment
• 2. Research
• 3. Decision-Making
• 4. Networks & Contacts
• 5. Work
• 6. Life/Work Planning

Step 1.1.2: Writing Your Stories: Pride Experiences

On a separate sheet of paper or in your word processor, write a short story about each of your seven favourite experiences Depending on how much you write, this process can take from 30 minutes to a few hours

Describe exactly what you did in each situation, what you accomplished and what you enjoyed. Try to be precise when you present dollar figures, percentages, etc.

It is very important to overcome your natural modesty and your reluctance to blow your own horn!

You may find it helpful to write these stories as if you were explaining them to a child. When we are speaking with children, we use clear language and provide a lot of detail. Keep in mind that you need to describe these experiences using words from all of your senses: what you saw, heard, felt, smelled and tasted. It is also helpful to describe your experiences from the perspectives of how you felt at the time and how you feel now as you recall them.

Remember to provide details. For example:

Rather than "I was a server" write "I waited on ten tables at one time, taking orders from all the people at the table as to what they wanted to eat, then I gave the orders in at the kitchen to the cooks. I had to keep in mind who had been served with what, and keep some kind of timing schedule in my head so that I would know which table had waited the longest for its next course of food."

Once you have completed this exercise, you are ready to go to Step 1.2.

Here’s a great way to do this exercise and have a lot of fun in the process! Get together with 3-4 of your friends Think of people you know (e.g., other students) who are in a similar situation to yours These should be people who you consider allies, whose judgment you trust Spend an afternoon and share your pride stories with each other Take turns; one person tells all of their stories while the others listen and write down the skills and characteristics that they hear When a person has read all of their stories, the group recites back all of the skills and characteristics they have heard and then give their written sheets to the storyteller Use the checklists in the sections that follow to identify each others' interests, values and skills