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The Seven Stories Exercise Worksheet

This exercise is an opportunity to examine the most satisfying experiences of your life and to discover
those skills you will want to use as you go forward. You will be looking at the times when you feel you did
something particularly well that you also enjoyed doing. Compete this sentence: There was a time when
I List enjoyable accomplishments from all parts of your life: from your youth, your school years, and
your early career up to the present. Dont forget enjoyable accomplishments from volunteer work,
hobbies and your personal life. Other people may have gotten credit or under-appreciated what you did.
Or the result may not have been a roaring success. None of that matters. What matters is that you
enjoyed doing it and did it well.
List anything that occurs to you, however insignificant. When I did my own Seven Stories Exercise, I
remembered the time when I was 10 years old and led a group of kids in the neighborhood, enjoyed it,
and did it well.
When you have 25, select the seven that are most important to you by however you define important.
Then rank them: List the most important first, and so on. Starting with your first story, write a paragraph
about each accomplishment. Then find out what your accomplishments have in common. If you are having
trouble doing the exercises, ask friends to help you talk them through. Friends tend to be more objective
and will probably point out strengths you never realized.
Section I
Briefly outline below all the work/personal/life experiences that meet the above definition. Come up
with at least 20. We ask for at least 20 stories so you wont be too selective. Just write down anything
that occurs to you, no matter how insignificant it may seem. Complete this sentence, There was a time
when I You may start with, for example, Threw a fiftieth birthday party for my father, Wrote a
press release that resulted in extensive media coverage, and Came in third in the Nassau bike race.
Dont just write that you enjoy cooking. Thats an activity, not an accomplishment. An
accomplishment occurs at a specific time. You may wind up with many cooking accomplishments, for
example. But if you simply write cooking, writing or managing, you will have a hard time thinking
of 20 enjoyable accomplishments.
Complete this sentence, There was a time when I

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

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12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

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Section II
Experience #1: _______________________________________
Experience #2: _______________________________________
Experience #3: _______________________________________
Experience #4: _______________________________________
Experience #5: _______________________________________
Experience #6: _______________________________________
Experience #7: _______________________________________

Choose the seven experiences from the above that you enjoyed the most and felt the most sense of
accomplishment about. (Be sure to include non-job-related experiences also.) Then rank them. Then, for
each accomplishment, describe what you did. Be specific, listing each step in detail. Use a separate sheet
of paper for each.
Heres how you might begin:
Experience #1: Planned product launch that resulted in 450 letters of intent from 1,500 participants.
a. Worked with president and product managers to discuss product potential and details.
b. Developed promotional plan.
c. Conducted five-week direct-mail campaign prior to conference to create aura of excitement about
product.
d. Trained all product demonstrators to make sure they each presented product in same way.
e. Had great product booth built; rented best suite to entertain prospects; conducted campaign at
conference by having teasers put under everyones door every day of conference. Most people wanted to
come to our booth.
and so on

Analyzing Your Seven Stories


Now it is time to analyze your stories. You are trying to look for the patterns that run through them so
that you will know the things you do well that also give you satisfaction. For now, simply go through each
story without trying to force it to come out any particular way. Just think hard about yourself. And be as
honest as you can.
Now that youve completed the above analysis, complete the questions below. Some of the questions may
sound similar. Thats okay. They are a catalyst to make you think more deeply about the experience. The
questions dont have any hidden psychological significance.
Story #1.
What was the accomplishment? ________________________
What about it did you enjoy most?______________________
What did you do best?_________________________________
What motivated you to do this? _________________________
What about it made you proud?________________________
What prompted you to do this? ________________________

What enjoyable skills did you demonstrate? _____________


Story #2.
What was the accomplishment? _________________________________
Enjoyed most? _______________________________________
Did best? ___________________________________________
What motivated you to do this? ______________________
Made you proud? ____________________________________
Prompted you to do this?______________________________
Enjoyable skills demonstrated? _________________________
Story #3.
What was the accomplishment? _________________________________
Enjoyed most? _______________________________________
Did best? ___________________________________________
What motivated you to do this? ______________________
Made you proud? ____________________________________
Prompted you to do this?______________________________
Enjoyable skills demonstrated? _________________________
Story #4.
What was the accomplishment? _________________________________
Enjoyed most? _______________________________________
Did best? ___________________________________________
What motivated you to do this? ______________________
Made you proud? ____________________________________
Prompted you to do this?______________________________

Enjoyable skills demonstrated? _________________________


Story #5.
What was the accomplishment? _________________________________
Enjoyed most? _______________________________________
Did best? ___________________________________________
What motivated you to do this? ______________________
Made you proud? ____________________________________
Prompted you to do this?______________________________
Enjoyable skills demonstrated? _________________________
Story #6.
What was the accomplishment? _________________________________
Enjoyed most? _______________________________________
Did best? ___________________________________________
What motivated you to do this? ______________________
Made you proud? ____________________________________
Prompted you to do this?______________________________
Enjoyable skills demonstrated? _________________________
Story #7.
What was the accomplishment? _________________________________
Enjoyed most? _______________________________________
Did best? ___________________________________________
What motivated you to do this? _______________________
Made you proud? ____________________________________
Prompted you to do this?______________________________

Enjoyable skills demonstrated? _________________________


We are here to be excited from youth to old age, to have an insatiable curiosity about the world.
We are also here to help others by practicing a friendly attitude. And every person is born for a purpose.
Everyone has a God-given potential, in essence, built into them.
And if we are to live life to its fullest, we must realize that potential.
Norman Vincent Peale, theologian
Let me listen to me and not to them.
Gertrude Stein, author
What seems different about you? Thats the rare thing you possess.
The one thing that gives each of us our worth is often just what we try to suppress.
And we claim to love life.
Andr Gide, author
Stick with the optimists. - Niftie.
Its going to be tough enough even if theyre right.
James Reston, journalist
Optimism Emerges As Best Predictor to Success in Life
Hope has proven a powerful predictor of outcome in every study weve done so far, said Dr. Charles R.
Snyder, a psychologist at the University of Kansas. Having hope means believing you have both the will
and the way to accomplish your goals, whatever they may be. . . . Its not enough to just have the wish
for something. You need the means, too. On the other hand, all the skills to solve a problem wont help
if you dont have the willpower to do it.
Daniel Goleman, The New York Times, Dec. 24, 1991

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