How to access insights about yourself

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I have a fun exercise for you today!

This is for you if you’re keen to reflect on or delve deeper into what you really want, whether that’s from a personal life or professional perspective.

The following question might seem silly, but there’s method in the madness:

If you could choose one superpower, what would it be?

If there was one capability that would delight, inspire or entertain you royally, what would you choose and why?

Would you have superhuman strength? The ability to shapeshift, time travel or heal others? Or maybe invisibility, or telepathy or immortality appeals?   

Most people have an immediate answer because it’s very much a gut feel thing (and something you’ve probably pondered on at some point in your life!)

Whatever you’d choose, grab a piece of paper and for the next five minutes scribble your responses to these prompts:

What does this superpower tell you about who you are and what’s important to you?

What does it suggest you might want more of?

And how might you bring more of this into your life in different ways?

The reason there’s more to this exercise than my personal penchant for superheroes is that trying to pin down what we really desire can often feel like a “hard” endeavour.

It quickly becomes serious business because a lot rides on it; namely our future happiness and fulfilment, but the weight of this can cause our imagination and creativity to shut down.

The result is that we lose access to our gut instinct about who we really are and what’s right for us, which leaves us staring down the proverbial blank piece of paper when asked “what do you really want?”

The superpower question provides a clever access point.

It opens up a form of self-enquiry that’s light and fun, which relaxes our logical left-brain for a moment and puts our creative right-brain in the driving seat.

This usually results in interesting and sometimes surprising insights that we know in our bones feel right. 

So if you’re stuck on what you really want, or you’re curious about what else might show up for you, play along. Go back to the question and prompts and give the exercise a go.

As an example of how it works (as well as a quick window into my soul!), I’d choose the ability to fly.

From a personal point of view, I love speed and adrenaline-fuelled activities, so zipping and dive-bombing around feels like huge fun!

But there’s also a deeper values-based connection for me, which relates to my strong need for and appreciation of freedom. I simply need to feel free in terms of the way I live, how I work and how I spend my spare time.

This infiltrates everything I do, even down to what I wear and what colour my hair is this week.

I’m sure you might imagine how these requirements have shaped and continue to guide my life and work choices :-)

So, what does your superpower say about what you really need and want...?

Alison

P.S. If this kind of creative exercise feels like a challenge, or you'd like to boost your own creativity to figure out the life and career changes that will make you happiest, come and join my fascinating conversation with Paul Spiers .

In this episode, Paul shares how we can ignite our curiosity and get into a creative zone, even if we don't consider ourselves a naturally creative person. There's some gold dust in here! Check it out!