Introduction
Meta note 1: This workshop has in the past been referred to as 'Ability Score Analyses', in reference to roleplaying games where you have to decide what your character's strengths and weaknesses are. We have renamed it in an ongoing attempt to reduce jargon.
Meta note 2: If you have not done the first workshop in the Path Mapping series, you can still participate in this one and do the first activity on your own time. However, this will not be the case for later workshops.
The next phase of Path Mapping is to assess where you are currently at. You will perform a Big 5 test by going to your Guild profile. Bear in mind that most "personality tests" are questionable at-best, outright pseudoscience at worst. The Big 5 is less of a "personality test" and more of a description of your behavior, and is well-supported by cognitive psychology.
The goal of this exercise is to do an inventory of your strengths and weaknesses, and to reflect on how to improve on them in the future.
Step 1: Take the test
Go to your Guild profile and begin the Big 5 assessment. Even if you have already done this, please do it again. Your traits will change over time, and the specific answers are the fuel for this exercise.
As you answer each question, make a note of any answer that reminds you of a time when that trait affected you positively or negatively.
It’s imperative that you answer honestly and as you currently are. Do not sugar coat your answers, or answer as the kind of person you wish to be. The first step in being honest is to be honest with yourself, even when it hurts. Keep in mind the following:
“If the sky is blue, I desire to believe that the sky is blue. If the sky is not blue, I desire to believe that the sky is not blue. Let me not become attached to beliefs I may not want.” -The Litany of Tarski
“What is true is already so. Owning up to it doesn’t make it worse. Not being open about it doesn’t make it go away. And because it is true, it is what is there to be interacted with. Anything untrue isn’t there to be lived. I can stand what is true, for I am already enduring it.” -The Litany of Gendlin
Step 2: Expound on your answers
Once you have your test results, take a look at the answers you made a note of (the ones that remind you of a past experience). Choose three positive experiences and three negative experiences.
Use the Pomodoro method (link here) in order to give yourself breaks as you do this activity. We encourage the whole class to sync up on this, and discuss your progress on your breaks.
For each experience, write a few paragraphs about the experience. Include a few sentences describing what you could have done differently so that the situation turned out better, and a few sentences describing how you can go about fixing that flaw or nurturing that ability so you benefit more from it. In particular, try to identify ways to use your strengths to compensate for your weaknesses.
Put all of this in the same document you wrote your backstory in, sectioning it off in a way that makes sense to you.
Note: None of the writing in Path Mapping has to be pretty; this is entirely for your personal reference and you are not expected to share any of this.
Workshop facilitator
In the final 10 minutes of the workshop, please fill out our feedback form with the help of the rest of the workshop attendees.