Exercise: Mining Your Personal Story
As you start to think about life after education, it’s important to realise that you’re not just a collection of bullet-points and qualifications on a CV, you’re a compilation of experiences, challenges, and lessons learned. Let’s dig deeper to help you articulate all of this value.
Prompt:
Check back in on those notes you prepared after the ‘Mirror’ exercise. Think about a pivotal moment that acted as a real turning point for you. It could be anything: a move, a new role, or even an impactful conversation. Jot down a few lines about it.
Stop and Reflect:
Thinking about that turning point moment, start to note down any observations you make around that time, things like:
- What was the hurdle?
- How did it stir your emotions?
- What wisdom did you gain?
Having thought about the main elements of your story, now let’s have a think about the flow of your personal narrative. Every great story follows a simple structure – and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…
Your personal narrative
Here are the key elements of a compelling narrative, which we’ll be using shortly to flesh out yours.
- Introduction: Who are you in this story?
- Conflict: What’s the big challenge or obstacle?
- Resolution: How did you crack it?
- Moral: What’s the takeaway?