Learning Objectives:

• To support participants in gaining a clear understanding of their values
• To support participants in developing a sense of continuity of values throughout their lives
• To promote awareness of the relationships between value, goal, and action among participants

Materials: Blank paper and pens, flipchart paper, markers, masking tape Worksheet 3.5.1 – My Lifetime Achievement Award Party

Time Required: 50 Minutes

Activities & Instructions

Set-up:

• Facilitator writes the following two sets of questions on two separate flipchart pages. To be used as summary after giving out the instructions.
• Set 1:
  WHO is the IDEAL person to speak about you?
  • What would you most want people to say about you in terms of:
    • YOUR VALUES: What you stood for or cared about throughout your life?
    • YOUR ACTIONS: What paths or actions you have taken in your life?”
• Set 2:
  WHO is the person MOST IMPORTANT to you?
  • “What would you fear the most that your loved ones thought about you in terms of:
    • YOUR VALUES: What you stood for or cared about throughout your life?
    • YOUR ACTIONS AND NON-ACTIONS: What actions or paths you have take or not taken in your life based on what you stood for?”

• Facilitator writes out on a third flipchart a list of key summary points (see instructions below) and use them at the end of debriefing.

Instructions to Participants

• (Facilitators provide participants with Worksheet 3.5.1 — My Lifetime Achievement Award Party.)
• Facilitator says, “The following exercise is a tool that helps us examine your own values. This is about what is most important to you in your life – what you stand for or care passionately about.”
• “In this exercise, we invite you to imagine that this is your lifetime achievement award. Imagine that your life has unfolded perfectly as you wished. Your friends and family have organized a lifetime achievement party for you, and some of your family members, friends, coworkers, or perhaps even other people in the community have prepared to make speeches about you.”

• “Now we would like you to take 5 minutes to work independently to complete Part 1 of the worksheet. This is for your own reflection only and you don’t have to share any parts you do not want to share with the rest of the group later. Write down ideally who might be making a speech about you, and what you would like them to say about you in terms of:
  • Your values, or what you stood for or cared about throughout your career?
  • Your actions or non-actions, that is, what actions or paths you took in life based on what you stood for?
• (Co-facilitator posts the flipchart with the above questions pre-written on it.)
• (Co-facilitator keeps time for 5 minutes and let the participants know when the time is up.)
• Facilitator continues, “This second part is about how your values and your actions may not align or match in the eyes of your loved ones, or someone very important to you.
• Then Facilitator continues, “Now suppose you have been given some magical power and you could read everyone’s mind at your the party but they are not aware that you have this super mind-reading power, what would you fear the most that your loved ones or someone very important to you thought about you in terms of:”
  • Your values or what you stood for or cared about throughout your career?”
  • Your actions, or non actions, what paths or actions you have taken or not taken in life based on what you stood for?
• Please take 5 minutes to complete Part 2”
• (Co-facilitator posts the flipchart with these questions.)
• (Participants take 3-5 minutes to write down their thoughts.)
• (Facilitator debriefs the exercise with the following questions.)

Debriefing Questions

Facilitator debriefs the exercise by inviting participants to share:

• “What have you learned about your values and your actions in doing this exercise?”
• “Which aspects of your life did this exercise motivate you to pay more attention to?”

Key Summary Points:

Facilitator writes these up on a flipchart page to enhance learning

1. Values are our chosen directions in life.

• Values guide our action
• Values are something that continually gives us direction, but not something to be achieved
• Values are ongoing, i.e. they are never completed

2. Values are different from goals.

• Values help us to set goals
• Values motivate us to engage in committed action
• When we go off course, values redirect us towards our goals

3. Values helps us remain flexible.

• Values are directions and not rigid rules
• We can use different value-consistent strategies to achieve the same goals
• Being clear about our values enables us to see possibilities and alternatives

4. Fusion to societal labels and Avoidance of unpleasant thoughts and feelings often pose barriers for us to take action according to our values. Defusion and Acceptance may be helpful strategies to help us address these barriers so that we can focus on what is truly important to us.

Worksheet 3.5.1 – My Lifetime Achievement Award Party

Purpose:

This exercise helps you to examine your own values, or what is most important to you in your life – what you stand for or care passionately about.

Instructions:

Part 1:

Imagine this is your Lifetime Achievement Award party… Imagine that your life has unfolded perfectly as you wished. Your friends and family have organized a party for you, and some of your family members, friends, coworkers, or perhaps even other people in the community have prepared to make speeches about you. Now take a few minutes to write down:

Part 2:

Suppose you could read everyone’s mind at the party but they are not aware that you have this super mind-reading power. What would you be most afraid that your loved ones thought about you in terms of the following::

Reflection:

• What have you learned about your values and your actions in doing this exercise?

• Which aspects of your life did this exercise motivate you to pay more attention to?”