Know

yourself
better
6 steps to help you make the right
decisions

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[email protected]
@peopleatheartcoaching
Table of contents

Step 1. your vision of the future............................. 3

Step 2. your values......................................................... 6

Step 3. your energisers & drainers....................... 11

Step 4. your personality traits................................ 15

Step 5. your skills............................................................. 16

Step 6. your action plan.............................................. 20

How to fill this workbook...........................................21

2
Write your vision of the future
Date you wrote this on:

When do you want to reach this vision of your life? It could be short-term (6 or 12 months)
or long-term (2, 5 or 10 years...).

Now answer these questions thinking about the future that you
want to build, not about your current situation.

How do you want to feel?

Who are the people around you? Describe the kind of relationships you want to have? This
includes your partner,, family members, friends, colleagues, etc.

What does your career look like? What does an ideal day look like? What kind of
environment do you want to work in? With what kind of people? What impact do you
want to have? How would you define 'success' from a career's perspective?

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What environment do you want to live in? Think about the geographical location and the
type of home.

What do your finances look like?

How do you want to look after yourself? Think of your hobbies, self-care routine, moments
that are for you only, but also include how look after your health and energy levels.

How do you want to be involved in your community?

How do others see you and your life in this future vision?

How do you want to see yourself?

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Now let's come back to your present situation.

What are the most significant changes you need to make to achieve this vision?

What is a small change you can start making now?

What resources do you need to reach your future life vision? Do you need help from
someone? Do you need additional knowledge or skills?

Who else is involved in this vision? How will you present it to them?

Whom do you know that has done something similar? Who or what inspires you?

Do you need to improve your balance to make time for yourself and achieve your goals?

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Identify your values
Values are what drive our thoughts, behaviours, actions and decisions. They define who we
are and what we want to be. Our values are usually positive and aspirational, and they
motivate us through life. They set the direction we want to follow like a compass.

When we don't meet our values, it may feel like something is not quite right. It can lead to
unhappiness.

Values are usually pretty stable. However, they can change over time, depending on life
experiences, relationships and events. Their level of priority might change too at different
times of your life.

This exercise will enable you to clarify what your values are, and
help you plan how you will integrate them into your life and career.

1. Start by answering these powerful questions that will take you back to key moments in
your life and will put you in the right mindset for this exercise.

2. In the 2-page list, highlight the values that resonate with you. Highlight as many as you
want.

3. Bundle values that are connected to each other into categories or themes, and give
each group a name that makes sense for you. You should aim for 3 to 5 categories.

4. In the table, write your categories in the first column. Then write a statement that
describes them. In the third column, decide how much you're satisfied that you are
aligned with each value. Finally, in the last column, write an action that will help you live
up to that value even more, especially if you've given that value a satisfaction level of 6 or
lower.

7. Finally, answer a few more reflection questions to help you think about you will protect
your values.

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Go back to a time(s) when you were happy: what was the situation? What were you
doing? Who were you sharing it with? What contributed to the happiness you felt?

Go back to a time(s) when you were proud: what was the situation? What were you
doing? Who were you sharing it with? What contributed to the pride you felt?

Who inspires you? Think of people - famous or not - that you admire for what they've
done, and explore the reasons why you'd love to know them or do the same than them.

What makes you angry and frustrated? Look around you - in your community and the
wider world - and think about what makes you angry and that you'd love to change.

What legacy do you want to leave? Visualise yourself towards the end of your life, and
think about what you'd like to leave as a legacy, what you'd like to be remembered for.

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 Acceptance Compassion Equality
Accomplishment Competence Ethical
Accountability Concentration Excellence
Accuracy Confidence Experience
Achievement Connection Exploration
Adaptability Consciousness Expressive
Alertness Consistency Fairness
Altruism Contentment Family
Ambition Contribution Famous
Amusement Control Fearless
Assertiveness Conviction Feelings
Attentive Cooperation Ferocious
Awareness Courage Fidelity
Balance Courtesy Focus
Beauty Creation Foresight
Boldness Creativity Fortitude
Bravery Credibility Freedom
Brilliance Curiosity Friendship
Calm Decisive Fun
Candor Decisiveness Generosity
Capable Dedication Genius
Careful Dependability Giving
Certainty Determination Goodness
Challenge Development Grace
Charity Devotion Gratitude
Cleanliness Dignity Greatness
Clear Discipline Growth
Clever Discovery Happiness
Comfort Drive Hard work
Commitment Effectiveness Harmony
Common sense Efficiency Health
Communication Empathy Honesty
Community Empower Honor
Endurance Hope
Energy Humility
Enjoyment Imagination
Enthusiasm Improvement 8

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Independence Performance Spirit
Individuality Persistence Spirituality
Innovation Playfulness Spontaneous
Inquisitive Poise Stability
Insightful Potential Status
Inspiring Power Stewardship
Integrity Present Strength
Intelligence Productivity Structure
Intensity Professionalism Success
Intuitive Prosperity Support
Irreverent Purpose Surprise
Joy Quality Sustainability
Justice Realistic Talent
Kindness Reason Teamwork
Knowledge Recognition Temperance
Lawful Recreation Thankful
Leadership Reflective Thorough
Learning Respect Thoughtful
Liberty Responsibility Timeliness
Logic Restraint Tolerance
Love Results-oriented Toughness
Loyalty Reverence Traditional
Mastery Rigor Tranquility
Maturity Risk Transparency
Meaning Satisfaction Trust
Moderation Security Trustworthy
Motivation Self-reliance Truth
Openness Selfless Understanding
Optimism Sensitivity Uniqueness
Order Serenity Unity
Organization Service Valor
Originality Sharing Victory
Passion Significance Vigor
Patience Silence Vision
Peace Simplicity Vitality
Sincerity Wealth
Skill Welcoming
Skillfulness Winning
Smart Wisdom
Solitude Wonder 9

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 Level of Action to increase
Name of your
Definition satisfaction alignment to the
value
(1 to 10) value

How will you support and protect your values?

How will you know that you're not aligned with your values? What are past examples of
red flags and behaviours when you were dissatisfied?

Now that your values are clear, what was a time when you embodied your most
important values? Use it to anchor your values into a real example.

10

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Your energisers & drainers
A strength is something that you're good at, that you do often and that you enjoy doing.
Definition by StrengthsProfile

When you use your strengths, you are energised and motivated. It's not just something
that you can do, it's something that you love doing.

On the other side, you have your drainers - activities that you might be good at, or not, but
most importantly that drain your energy.

Knowing and working to your strengths has lots of benefits:

increased self-belief
higher levels of happiness
more positive energy

Exploring your strengths

What activities give you an energetic buzz when you’re doing them - to the point that
you may lose all sense of time?

When do you feel most like the ‘real you’? What are you doing?

Identify your energisers and drainers

In the next 2 pages, highlight the activities that energise you in one colour and the
activities that drain you in a different colour. You don't have to highlight them all, leave
blank the ones that you feel neutral about.
Then select the energisers and drainers that you want to focus on and write actions to
help you dial up your energisers and dial down your drainers.

You can also take the Strengths Profile questionnaire to receive a full
development report and career guide: https://strengthsprofile.com/en-
gb/products/profiles.
11

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Action Curiosity
You feel compelled to act immediately and decisively, You are interested in everything, constantly
being keen to learn as you go. seeking out new information and learning more.

Adaptable Detail
You juggle things to meet changing demands and find You naturally focus on the small things that
the best fit for your needs. others easily miss, ensuring accuracy.

Adherence Drive
You love to follow processes, operating firmly within You are very self-motivated, pushing yourself
rules and guidelines. hard to achieve what you want out of life.

Adventure Emotional Awareness

You love to take risks and stretch yourself outside your You are acutely aware of the emotions and
comfort zone. feelings of others.

Authenticity Empathic
You are always true to yourself, even in the face of You feel connected to others through your ability
pressure from others. to understand what they are feeling.

Bounceback Enabler
You use setbacks as springboards to go on and achieve You create the conditions for people to grow and
even more. develop for themselves.

Catalyst Equality
You love to motivate and inspire others to make things You ensure that everyone is treated equally,
happen. paying close attention to issues of fairness.

Centred Esteem Builder

You have an inner composure and self-assurance, You help others to believe in themselves and see
whatever the situation. what they are capable of achieving.

Change Agent Explainer

You are constantly involved with change, advocating for You are able to simplify things so that others can
change and making it happen. understand.

Compassion Feedback
You really care about others, doing all you can to help You provide fair and accurate feedback to others,
and sympathise. to help them develop.

Competitive Gratitude
You are constantly competing to win, wanting to You are constantly thankful for the positive
perform better and be the best. things in your life.

Connector Growth
You make connections between people, instinctively You are always looking for ways to grow and
making links and introductions. develop, whatever you are doing.

Counterpoint Humility
You always bring a different viewpoint to others, You are happy to stay in the background, giving
whatever the situation or context. others credit for your contributions.

Courage Humour
You overcome your fears and do what you want to do in You see the funny side of almost everything that
spite of them. happens - and make a joke of it.

Creativity Improver
You strive to produce work that is original, by creating You constantly look for better ways of doing
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and combining things in imaginative ways. things and how things can be improved.
Strengths Profile is a product by Capp & Co | www.strengthsprofile.com
Incubator Prevention
You love to think deeply about things, to arrive at the You think ahead, to anticipate and prevent problems
best conclusion. before they happen.

Innovation Pride
You approach things in ingenious ways, coming up You strive to produce work that is of the highest
with new and different approaches. standard and quality.

Judgement Rapport Builder

You enjoy making decisions and are able to make You establish rapport and relationships with others
the right decision quickly and easily. quickly and easily.

Legacy Relationship Deepener

You want to create things that will outlast you, You have a natural ability to form deep, long-lasting
delivering a positive and sustainable impact. relationships with people.

Listener Resilience
You are able to listen intently to and focus on what You take hardships in your stride, recovering quickly
people say. and getting on with things again.

Mission Resolver
You pursue things that give you a sense of meaning You love to solve problems, the more difficult the
and purpose in your life. better.

Moral Compass Self-awareness

You have a strong ethical code, always acting in You know yourself well, understanding your own
accordance with what you believe is right. emotions and behaviour.

Narrator Self-belief
You love to tell stories and see the power of these You are confident in your own abilities, knowing that
stories to convey insights. you can achieve your goals.

Optimism Service
You always maintain a positive attitude and outlook You are constantly looking for ways to help and serve
on life. others.

Organiser Spotlight
You are exceptionally well-organised in everything You love to be the focus of everyone’s attention.
you do.
Strategic Awareness
Persistence You pay attention to the wider context and bigger
You achieve success by keeping going, particularly picture to inform your decisions.
when things are difficult.
Time Optimiser
Personal Responsibility You maximise your time, to get the most out of
You take ownership of your decisions and hold whatever time you have available.
yourself accountable for your promises.
Unconditionality
Personalisation You accept people for who and what they are,
You recognise everyone as a unique individual, without ever judging them.
noticing their subtle differences.
Work Ethic
Persuasion You are very hard working, putting a lot of effort into
You enjoy bringing others round to your way of everything you do.
thinking and winning their agreement.
Writer
Planner You love to write, conveying your thoughts and ideas
You make plans for everything you do, covering all through the written word.
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eventualities.
Strengths Profile is a product by Capp & Co | www.strengthsprofile.com
Pick the energisers and drainers that you want to focus on. For each, assess how much
you're using them right now (1 being not at all / never, and 10 being all the time), then
decide to which level (between 1 and 10) you'd like to dial them up or down. Finally write
an action.

Name of energiser
Dial up/down
or drainer you Action: how are you going to do that?
from .. to ..
want to work on

14

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Explore your personality
Our personality is made of a set of traits that explain why we behave, communicate and
make decisions in a certain way.

Our personality type is pretty stable, but it can change slightly as we grow older. Our life
experiences also change the way we do things.

Knowing and exploring your personality type is a key step in knowing yourself better.
Because you'll finally understand why some things feel right or wrong. Why you get along
and work better with some people and not others. Why you hate or love your job.

Start by taking the FREE 16personalities test. It will give you a good description of your
personality traits and how it shows in different aspects of your life.

www.16personalities.com

Write here the key points you've learned from your personality
profile.

15

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Assess your skills
When assessing your skills, you can split them into these two categories.

Hard skills are abilities that let you tackle job-specific duties and responsibilities. They can
be learned through courses, vocational training, and on the job. These skills usually focus
on specific tasks and processes such as using tools, equipment, or software. (1)

Soft skills are a mix of interpersonal skills, common sense, personality, emotional
intelligence and attitude towards people. They are natural preferences that we have
developed over time, based on how we are 'wired' and the environment we grew up in.
They directly impact how we perform and interact with our coworkers. (1)

With this in mind, start by answering these questions:

Going back to all the jobs that you've done in the past, what hard skills have you learned?

What do people ask you for help with?

What can you teach others?

What are your soft skills?

What can you create - a product or a service?

16
(1) Source: www.zety.com
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For each (relevant) category, list your skills:

Technical Skills: specialised knowledge and expertise in fields such as IT, engineering, or
science. Typical technical skills are abilities to use software or equipment.

Computer Skills: abilities to use software and hardware: from basic and general, to highly
specialised.

Analytical Skills: skills of gathering data, analyzing it, deciphering the meaning, and
presenting it.

Marketing Skills: general knowledge of sales, advertising, and consumer research, as well
as technical and digital skills.

Presentation Skills: a mix of soft skills, such as confidence, adaptability, self-awareness,

and stress management, and hard skills such as communication, slideshows, data
analysis, etc

Management and leadership skills: another mix of hard / business skills and soft skills

Project Management Skills: coordinating processes or people’s work, general managerial

expertise as well as proficiency in certain frameworks and software.

17

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Language Skills: foreign languages and proficiency level

Writing Skills

Design Skills: ability to create visual materials.

Problem-Solving Skills

Time-Management Skills

Organizational Skills

Communication Skills: expressing yourself clearly and listening to what others have to
say.

Teamwork Skills

Interpersonal Skills: establishing good relationships with colleagues and stakeholders.

18

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Critical-Thinking skills: taking a step back and judging a situation from a distance.

Conceptual Skills: visualize complex interdependencies, see the big picture, and find
optimal solutions.

Creative Skills: soft skills and abilities to find innovative solutions to various problems.

Decision-Making Skills

Physical skills

Other skills

19

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Take action
Now that you have a deeper knowledge of yourself, what values, strengths, personality
traits and skills can help you achieve your vision?

What is missing between today's reality and your future vision?

When do you What resources do you need?

Action
want to achieve it? who can help?

20

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How to fill this workbook
If you can't or don't want to print the workbook, you can use this FREE function available
in Adobe Acrobat Reader (which I believe most people will have on their computers!)

The "Fill & Sign" function

Click anywhere on the page to add a text box. You can also add other elements (crosses,
ticks...), as well as circle or underline words. And don't forget to save!

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