it's Nita.

(Audio and text)

First of all I want to give credit to Troy Marshall who taught me to this exercise in 2017. I have had it in my notes for a while but I decided to write it up so others could use it. So here we go!

Purpose: People can often live out of their purpose but not their core. Your purpose is why but your core is the why behind the why. It’s the innermost nature of a person that drives and motivates them to carryout their purpose.

To be clear, this is not a personality test. You won’t come away with a series of letters or a number label or any combination of the two. The point of the exercise is to find your core and live it out to the glory of God. ❤️

So I just wanted to remind you that that is a hope God had when He formed you and He wants you to be free in that truth. So I hope you enjoy. ☺️

STEP 1

• List 100 words to describe yourself. However, none of the words can be negative. This process is designed to start peeling back the layers to get at the core. It makes you ask hard questions beyond the obvious things. For example, you can say creative, athletic, adventurer, studious, friendly, observant or giver. Any words, any descriptors.
• But remember to only use words from the womb. Meaning the words you use to describe yourself can’t depend on another person. So no using labels like mother, husband, sister, cousin etc. those all relate to how you are with another person.
• Take your time and think of things that you were before you were married or a mom, etc. what does being a mom really mean? You could be a caregiver. What does a wife mean? You could be a nurturer.
• NOTE: The quality of the questions you ask yourself determines the quality of answers you get as you make this list. Don’t give up when you hit the word wall. It may take you a few days or more to get your list to 100. Personally, it took be about 3-5 days.
• After you have 100 words, go through your list and pick your top 10. Again this may take more than just an afternoon but try to be decisive. Don’t agonize over picking those 10 words.

STEP 2

• Ask a friend to give you 10 words to describe you. Do not tell them the 100 word list you made or the 10 words you picked for yourself.
• This is a checkpoint step and you will find out a couple things. 1) Do you have anyone close enough to you to ask for 10 words? 2) Have you been open and transparent enough to ask a friend to tell you about yourself? 3) Are the words your friend gives you consistent with what you said about yourself? Are the words they give shallow or insightful? If not ask yourself, am I bring my authentic self? Or is this person not as close to me as I thought they were?
• This is a very interesting step. It really helps figure out those close relationships. These are important considerations. Our greatest desire as people are to know and to be known for our authentic selves. A true friend will know. Knowing means transparency and honesty. The 10 words they give you will expose the nature of the friendship you have. You can really get to know people by what they say about you.

STEP 3

• Now after your friend has described you in their own words you will go back to the 10 words you described for yourself. Of the words your wrote for yourself you will now pick only 5 of those words. This is pretty exciting. You are really getting close to the center at this point. When I did this I was like “Yes, I’m almost there!” 😆
• Hopefully your friend helped you focus on what your 5 most important words might be. If not, don’t be discouraged. Take some time and meditate on your 10 word list. The 5 most relevant words will become clear as God leads you. I know this took me a little while to get to. I wanted to keep certain words but just go with your gut instinct. God really speaks to you in this step.

STEP 4

• This is another checkpoint. Go to THE absolute closest person to you (this could be a spouse, best friend or parent for example) and ask them to describe you in 5 words.
• If the words they give you approximately match your top 5, yay! You’re being consistent with yourself and they know you pretty well. That’s pretty cool because you are being open and transparent with the person you say is the closest person to you. If not, again return to the questions you asked in STEP 2. Remember, THE closest person to you is the person you are being the most transparent and honest with about your true self I just want to emphasize that again.

STEP 5

• This is the last step and more of a process step. In this step you are going to get to the 1 word but you are also going to think through that over time and chew on it to see what it means to you.
• Of the 5 words you listed for yourself, pick 1. Again this process may be quick and obvious or it could take a few days.
• But don’t just stop with picking a word can say yay, I’m a birdwatcher. Ok, cool birdwatcher…but you really want to reflect on how that word connects to the center of your life and purpose. This is your core. Really look deep into the meaning of the word.
• For example, if you are a cook the core is really caring for other people. That’s a vulnerable place if you think about it. You are giving of you time and talents to provide nourishment for others. That is the essence of what a cook does.
• Remember your core word should relate to how you are changing the Kingdom of God because for those that are believers, we are all ministers of the gospel. Going back to that example, cooking could definitely serve the Kingdom. Don’t discount your one word. God will definitely give you insight. I know He really illuminated my word for me and gave me a good understanding of what it means to be a teacher. Even past googling definitions and all that, God made it clear to me on a personal level.
• So as you are meditating on this, ask yourself what am I going to do today to change the world from my core. This is a great time to think about that. The why, how and motivation of your purpose will totally change. You may ask yourself, how are my priorities a reflection of my core self? What am I going to do about that?
• If this process is difficult, I would encourage you to keep pushing. It may be a sign of insecurity or uncertainty but guess what? God can work with that too. Being stripped to your core and thinking about it from that level it really provides you a foundation to assess, redirect and rebuild. It’s a great spot to be.
• I also want to say for my super-super-religious, super-super-saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost persons, please don’t get super-ultra-religious with this thing. We are not trying to boost egos around here. Be honest with yourself and be honest God. This is bigger than church membership or title or position. Your core is not even contained to ministry alone. It’s everything about you and it goes everywhere you go because it is the essence of who you are.
• As you go through this process just be free to what God has to show you. When you get to that truth you will really walk in an entirely new level of freedom. Don’t be fearful. He wants to give you more and He won’t give you a calling you are going to despise. He won’t call you to something and not equip you to be able to complete.
• Trust God to show you who you are and believe Him will give you the strength to walk it out.

Alright, that’s how you do the 100 word test. I do hope you have fun with this and find great insights about yourself and those closest to you. That’s all I have for today.

Love you!

it’s Nita.