How can you use the Seven Stories exercise to find your next career steps?

If you’re considering the next steps in your career, you might be at a loss on how to make it happen. It can seem overwhelming, with so many choices to consider. But you don’t have to continue blindly—there are steps you can take to get a clearer picture of what you need to do, that don’t require aptitude tests or multiple sessions with a career coach. The Seven Stories exercise can help you make a plan to get back on track with your career.

In this article, we’ll discuss:

• What is the Seven Stories exercise? 

• How to use the Seven Stories exercise to find your next career steps

What is the Seven Stories exercise?

A great tool for finding a more satisfying career path, the Seven Stories exercise focuses on figuring out your strengths, values, and interests. It was created by Kate Wendleton, author and founder of the Five O’Clock Club, a national career coaching organization, and was inspired by the work of Bernard Haldane. Haldane worked for the U.S. government in the 1940s helping servicemen transition to civilian life after World War II by identifying their transferable skills. This exercise looks at the most fulfilling achievements in your life and identifies those skills you want to utilize in your career path.

The Seven Stories exercise isn't a crystal ball, and it's not an assessment test. However, it will show what qualities and values you find important so you can narrow down your job choices and find the best suited one. As the philosopher Socrates said, “Know thyself.” He probably wasn’t talking about his job, but the sentiment still applies: only when you know what’s important to you, what you’re good at, and what holds value for you will you be able to find a fulfilling career.

How to use the Seven Stories exercise to find your next career steps

Let’s be honest: self-discovery takes time, and the Seven Stories exercise isn’t one you can complete in an afternoon (well, you could, but it wouldn't be super helpful). But understanding yourself, including your career goals, aptitudes, values, skills, values, and goals is vital to creating a successful career because it will help you define what you want out of your work experience and generate relevant ideas for how to move forward. This exercise will help you take control of your career, rather than just moving blindly from job to job. So how do you go about doing the Seven Stories exercise?

1. Do a brainstorming session focusing on your accomplishments

On a piece of paper, identify 25 accomplishments or occurrences in your life that have brought you happiness or fulfillment. They don’t have to be exclusively career-related; they can be from your school days, college, past employment, or your personal life. The point is to make a list of things that you liked doing and that you did well. This might seem like a large number, but that’s by design, so you don’t censor yourself. Write down whatever you think of, without judgment. And don’t try to do this all in one session—you can take several days to finish this part of the exercise. 

2. Narrow down the list

Once you have your list of 25 specific accomplishments in place, it’s time to start whittling it down to the seven that are most significant for you. They should be the ones that you enjoyed doing and provided the most feelings of success. Then, rank these seven achievements in order of most to least important. Don’t eliminate any of them—just put them in order of importance.

3.  Write your stories

After you’ve narrowed down your list to seven accomplishments, you’re going to write a “story” about each of them (this is where the “Seven Stories” name comes from). When you write them, describe each accomplishment with as much detail as you can. See if you can identify any patterns among your seven stories, which will help you identify the things you feel are important and find rewarding.

When writing your seven stories, consider the following questions to help you fill them in with pertinent details, and make sure each story is about one page in length:

• What made you do the activity?

• What specifically did you do?

• Where did the activity or accomplishment happen?

• Who did you work with? 

• What skills did you utilize?

• What did you like best about it?

• What was the result of your actions?

• How did this activity/project/accomplishment make you feel?

4. Take a magnifying glass to your seven stories

At this point, you’re going to do some close self-examination and determine what you can learn from each of the stories. Sometimes, the answers will be obvious, but some might take a bit more thought. See if you can find any commonalities from each of the stories, what skills appear most often, and what achievements "sparked joy.” Once you have your list in place, you’ll have a clear picture of what you’d enjoy doing in your ideal job.

5.  Create a list of possibilities

No, you’re not done yet! By this point, you’ll have a list of what you like to know and where your skills lie. Great! But what do you do with this list? Turn it into a list of 200 possibilities for doing the things on the list. Two hundred might seem like a lot—and it is—but it will help you see that there are myriad options out there, gives you a lot of choices, and helps you avoid fixating on any one possibility.

Using this Seven Stories exercise doesn’t mean a new career will magically present itself, but, done with care and a great amount of thought, it will help you determine what’s important to you and how you can use those skills and values to create a career path that works best for you.

If you find you need a little extra help finding the right career, consider Career.io’s Career Coaching tool, which will provide you with expert tips and advice and help you create a career plan to get you going, with personalized, 50 minute coaching sessions available seven days a week.

Key takeaways

1. The Seven Stories exercise is used to help you find a more satisfying career path by focusing on figuring out your strengths, values, and interests and how they can improve your career.

2. This exercise will help you generate ideas on what career you’d like to have based on things you’ve enjoyed doing in the past.

3. The Seven Stories exercise includes brainstorming, identifying your skills and values, and creating a list of how to put them into action.