Gamify Your Life: Hero Status Report + Mark Your North Star
HERO STATUS REPORT
Connect with your super powers and establish heroic status
The Status Report is probably my favourite part, because this is where you get to construct a personal "avatar" that represents your strengths, your weaknesses, and your preferred mode of productive pace. This phase of the threshold mapping encourages you to recognize what you already have and what you are working towards, finding peace and empowerment in accepting that you have your own way of shining and succeeding, and what brings out the best in you is unique to you. You're your own brand of hero, and you don't need to be like anybody else.
This kind of sounds like yet another self-reflective process--true! But since we are preparing for the year ahead, Status Report or Avatar Construction will focus on things that will enable you to be your best productive and motivated self.
YOUR KIND OF HERO
What is your personal brand of heroism?
Outline your strengths or heroic attributes in the following areas and explain how these strengths will help you accomplish your goals and create a successful year.
These categories are suggestive; as long as you create categories that section your life in a meaningful way, then by all means go ahead! Remember, it's your own process and anything that works best to your advantage, do it!
Spiritual, intellectual, emotional, physical
Career, relationships, health, spirit, family
Use the seven chakras (from root to crown) to symbolically represents the various areas of life
Or, create your own categories!
IDENTIFY YOUR HERO PASSIVES
Passives are (yet another game term) abilities that requires no input from the player to be used.
That means it activates automatically and "runs in the background" no matter what happens. This could be a physical action that you do which empowers you, or it could be an aspect of your personality. For example, you get up at 6AM in the morning to workout. This is a routine that happens no matter what goes on in your life, so it could be considered a "passive" (even though you technically have to put effort in it). Or, you are naturally helpful and compassionate. This is something that happens naturally and allows you to cement your relationships with others, in both your personal and professional life. These things help strengthen your "hero status" and help empower you in your day to day life.
YOUR MORTAL BANE
Identify your tragic flaw as a hero.
Nobody is perfect, and just as we are empowered by our strengths, we are also challenged by our weaknesses. Hint: our biggest flaws or perceived flaws are, more often than not, the shadow side of our inherent strengths. For example, if you are a naturally giving person, the light aspect of this personality trait would be that it is easy for you to show care and affection for people. The shadow side would be that you may struggle with personal boundaries and people who can be slightly or frequently manipulative. "Being giving" can be a strength if channeled at the right places, but it can become a "tragic flaw" if you give too much and exhaust yourself to the point of energetic and emotional depletion.
Once you have identified your "tragic flaw", know that this is part of who you are and approach it from a place of acceptance. Then, ask yourself how can you equip yourself in a way that will help you circumvent some of the challenges that come with that tragic flow, and how you can best improve it.
WHAT’S IN YOUR BACKPACK?
Identify what's in your backpack, or heroic sack!
You can come up for your own "bag"--my vocabulary for fashion or clothing items are quite limited, so indulge my total lackness of nouns. But yeah, these are resources and tools of empowerment that you can carry with you or gain access to that are outside of your own person. The items in your backpack could be: your best friend who will support you in your relationship dramas, your family doctor who will help keep your health conditions in check, a workshop you can go to to strengthen your writing, a website or blog that sheds light on a wise but humourouse light on parenting, etc. Basically, things that will help you in the upcoming year. When you are "organizing your backpack" for the "journey ahead", pick 3 essential or core item that you can repeatedly access for the upcoming year, and explain why you have chosen these items over others.
IDENTIFY YOUR LOYAL STEED
Your mode of mobility and productivity.
In epic quests and heroic tales, your steed, be it a gallant stallion or a majestic unicorn or a ferocious squirrel (chuckle), it represents your mobility and your primary "way" of navigating across the landscape of life and is absolutely essential for any kind of questing. This is the fun part: since your steed represents mobility--ask yourself: what animal reflects your personal sense of "pace"? Are you a fearless charger (rhinos, stallions) or a pouncer (panthers, leopards) or a pack creature (wolves, penguins)? Let me give you my example: my loyal steed is a panda. My sense of pace or the way I am productive is not defined by the speed, burst, or force. In truth, I am very relaxed and slow moving, and that's just the way I like it. I surround myself with my favourite activities and I pursue my goals patiently, enjoying every moment slowly. I take joy in the steady pace and gradual but sure success. I also like the idea of balance, wisdom, and fuzziness. So panda is perfect for me.
Remember, your loyal steed is totally changeable and you can even have more than one for various life situations. Take the opportunity to reflect on your sense of progress and how you "work" and what works best for you.
YOUR NORTH STAR
Mark Your North Star: Connect with your purpose and never get lost!
Mark your North Star on your year map.
Your North Star represents your purpose for this year. You should outline your phrase like you would phrase a tarot question: open, spacious, with lots of room for growth and magical things to happen. ;) This is different from goal setting, which requires more specific language and achievable outcomes. Your overarching purpose shouldn't be a number or making x number of figures a year. Setting something that specific can be very limiting. (Think about it-there is only one way that purpose could happen! If it doesn't, then what?) Instead, it should something that helps you connect with your vision for yourself and your life in an empowering and authentic way. It should radiate possibility and potential, and it should be something that motivates you on a deeper level. For example, making six figures a year may be something you want to achieve, but you shouldn't use that as your North Star or to fuel your sense of purpose. It could be one of the ways in which your purpose is manifested, but it shouldn't be equated with purpose. Instead, you want to make your purpose into something like "expanding on my expertise in a career that I find meaningful and rewarding and exploring with bold decisions that take me out of my comfort zone." It should be something that allows you to expand in more than one way and allows you to express yourself as an individual. It should be something that can "happen" in more ways than one.
Here are a few questions and prompts to help you get started:
Write a "North Star" statement in 2-3 sentences. If you can't trim it down immediately, start with more than 3 than gradually refine it until it is concise. Remember your high school and college days in which you have to write thesis statements for your term paper?
Alternatively, vision boarding would be the perfect activity to help you mark your North Star. Create a collage of pictures that resonate with your passions, your ideals and how you envision your future.
Why did you choose this particular North Star over others?
How can your North Star keep you on track in 2017?
Consider your sense of purpose. How has it evolved throughout the years?
Where do you think your current North Star will lead you?
And that's it, folks! (For now!)
I hope you enjoyed the concept of threshold mapping and have decided to take on a few activities suggested in this blog post. Next, a series of "year jumpstarters activities" to help you level up your life!
xo
Kimberly