As a big proponent of using journal-style exercises to bring thoughts and feeling out of the subconscious, I enjoyed completing several exercises given in both Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner To Thriving Entrepreneur, by Pamela Slim and What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20: A Crash Course In Making Your Place in the World, by Tina Seelig.
There are three that I completed as part of a class that I find to be particularly helpful, whether you know what you want to do with your life or not. For the purposes of my blog, let’s assume you are still trying to ascertain what it is you are here for. Exercise #1, Your Ideal Life, by Pamela Slim, allows you to hypothetically visualize yourself in the future, while writing in the present tense as if it is already happening. I highly encourage you to complete this exercise, as it provides clues as to the type of work and life you are searching for. You can find a template on her “book” page here.
Exercise #2 follows in line with the Ideal Life exercise and explores the Components of a Business Model (page 85 of the book). It asks questions like “What do you do? Why do you do it? How do you do it? Where do you do it?” and “Whom do you do it with?”. These may be answered hypothetically as in the Ideal Life exercise.
Finally, the Failure Resumeexercise is given by Seelig (with credit given to Liz Kisenwether). This is incredibly insightful and brings up many feelings regarding authenticity and values (at least it did for me).
I highly recommend these exercises as part of your journey. I have posted my completed ones here as well; maybe they will help you with your own.
My Ideal Life Business Model Exercise Failure Resume Exercise
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