What is this tool and what is its purpose and benefit?

My Storyboard visualises the main events of your life including education and work experiences, the emotions linked to them, the lessons learnt from them, and their value to you. Visualisation helps looking at the events side-by-side and in a timeline. It evidences your life path and what shaped you. This provides insight not only into the overall evolution of your life, but also into what might be important for your career path.

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Start by adding the main events of your life in chronological order to a large sheet of paper, whiteboard or flip chart. These events can be of any kind, such as a graduation, the birth of a child, moving home, winning a competition, work experience or education. Write each event as a heading on a sticky note and arrange them on a timeline until you are happy with it. Draw a timeline above the sticky notes, for example, a long arrow with the years of the events written as numbers.

Write a description of each event below the sticky note representing it. This should be no more than two sentences long.

Draw a smiley face below each event to indicate whether it was positive, neutral or negative. Use bullet points to list the emotions associated with each event, as well as what was memorable and typical of you.

Below each event, add a new heading titled 'Decisions, people and other' and list any other relevant aspects below it. These could include decisions taken and the reasons for them, or people who influenced you.

Add a new heading titled 'Value and lessons learnt' below each event. List the lessons learnt from each event and its value to you below it. For instance, value could be learning to cope by yourself if you move abroad.

Look at your storyboard. Circle the main events and points, for example decisions taken, that shaped you.

Based on these, write a short, bullet-point description of who you are.

Tips and hints for using this tool