If you have ever heard me speak about identity before – you’ve probably heard me walk through a 5 word story exercise.  It’s a great tool to start a conversation about identity and your story.

I have facilitated the exercise many times in so many different contexts.  How I use it is I have people just write 5 words that describe their story.  (I kinda stole the idea from a friend of mine that was doing some consulting on brand identity.  He had people write the 5 word story of their brand.  I took the idea and just created an exercise with personal identity.)  I walk people through a variety of 5 Word Stories that they write about themselves.  Hopefully, those that have experienced it will write a comment about it for this post.

I used the exercise this week for a series of talks that I gave at a camp.  It worked well and facilitated many conversations, but I had something interesting that happened – that I had never experienced before.  Someone (you know who you are – and I haven’t asked for permission to share this person’s name) wrote a 5 Word Story for me.

The Feature Image for this post is the actual note that this person wrote.  They wrote: A Blessing – From God – Encouraging – Great Example – True Worshipper.

I challenged everyone to live out the truth of the 5 Word Story that people write for them.  I cannot look at the 5 Word Story written for me and not do the same.  I will Eat what I Serve.  I definitely need to Practice What I Preach.

What’s your 5 Word Story?  Write one for me.