Discovering Your Giftedness
A Step-By-Step Guide
Your Satisfaction
Now it’s time to evaluate the satisfaction that keeps recurring in your stories. Look first in the boxes for Satisfaction in your eight Giftedness Story Summaries. Do you notice a consistent theme?
In addition, step back and look at the big picture of each of your stories. What are they about? What are you trying to do in these stories? Is there a common theme that describes the sort of activity you come back to again and again?
Example:
Story 1 (a story about organizing a tool shed)
“What was satisfying?”
“That it looked neat and clean when I was finished. Everything had its place. You could see everything at a glance.”
Story 2 (a story about earning an A in a tough math class)
“What was satisfying?”
“That I thought through my steps and then completed them one by one, and eventually getting the A I wanted.”
Story 3 (a story about preparing for a deer hunt)
“What was satisfying?”
“Knowing I was prepared. I was ready for every contingency. I’d thought it through. It went down almost exactly as I had planned it.”
Story 4 (a story about getting accepted to his first choice for college)
“What was satisfying?”
“Organizing all the information about the schools in order to know which one was my top choice, and then working a strategy to get into that school.”
Story 5 (a story about planning a trip to England with a friend)
“What was satisfying?”
“I felt like I eliminated what could have been a huge distraction by anticipating all the details. I mean, we didn’t feel rushed, we never felt anxious about we were going to stay, we had plenty of money. In fact we saved money. I think I made it into a great trip by just doing a little legwork ahead of time.”
Story 6 (a story about proposing to his wife)
“What was satisfying?”
“Well, obviously that she said yes. But I mean, it went off exactly the way I wanted it to. The phone call from her mom telling her to come home, the limo showing up right on cue, my friend hiding in the bushes with the camera, the music starting and everyone coming out from nowhere. It was incredible! And she loved it.”
Story 7 (a story about getting a project at work finished on time and under budget)
“What was satisfying?”
“Setting a goal and achieving it. My boss told me what our team needed to accomplish, I broke it down into the steps we needed to cover, we marched through those steps. And bingo! We were there! On time and under budget.”
Story 8 (a story about organizing a charity event through his Rotary Club)
“What was satisfying?”
“Seeing it all come together. I mean, you gotta appreciate the hours I out on planning this thing. To see all that hard work pay off, and the face of the nonprofit leader when we announced that had raised $45,000 for them in one event. I mean, that was priceless!”
How would you characterize the satisfaction that this man seems to experience in most all of his stories? Clearly he enjoys it when something he has planned comes together. He likes to see an end goal, then figure out the steps required to get there, and then work those steps until he accomplishes his objective.
Discuss with your partner the common theme (or themes) of satisfaction that your stories show. See if you can boil it down to a brief three- or four-word descriptor. Then write that phrase into the box labeled Satisfaction on your Giftedness Patterns form.
Example:
