The Self Authoring Exercise is the most important part of our process. It is a technique that emerged from the research of two psychologists, one from the university of Toronto, the other from the university of Texas. In a nutshell what their research shows is that writing about yourself, especially when the subject matter is important, actually changes where your brain stores the information and how you feel about it. The self authoring exercise in the IPSAT process guides the user through writing five identity statements. The metaphor we’ve found helpful is to think of self authoring like you were a translator responsible for capturing the most important information about yourself from the five pre-IPSAT assessment reports and translating the computer generated language into personalized statements that are meaningful to you and helpful for the people around you.
The first of the five self authored statements is an identity overview statement. This is 100 words or less explaining what happens when the five components of your identity work together in your life. This is a description of you at your best.
The second is a best contribution statement. This is 50 words or less that explains how you can add the most value to others and make your best contribution to a team.
The third is a developmental priority statement. This is 50 words or less explaining what part of your identity you need to develop the most now.
The fourth is a potential derailer statement. This is 50 words or less explaining how your identity predisposes you to self-defeating behaviors that could sabotage relationships or derail your influence with others.
The fifth is a vulnerable settings statement. This is 50 words or less explaining the situations or environments in which your potential derailers are even more likely to surface. We think if you know how your identity could work against you and where or when it is most likely to happen you’ll be better positioned to design a mitigation strategy.