Leadership and Character | Your autobiography exercise

Personal reflection is one of the most effective ways to foster character development. This exercise invites participants to explore their own personal narrative.

Every story has a main character. In your life, that character happens to be you. “Character” has multiple meanings. In addition to naming a person in a story, it can also mean a collection of virtues, vices and personality traits that a person dependably exhibits.

You can answer the following prompts in paragraph form, or include bullet points, poetic phrases or drawings — anything that helps you reflect on who you are in the world.

In less than a decade, Wake Forest’s Program for Leadership and Character has become part of the fabric of campus — and a national model for character education. Here’s how.

Your Character Autobiography

The following exercise is adapted from a workbook used in the Program for Leadership and Character’s seminars and workshops.

Name

First Last

Email address(Required)

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Describe the community into which you were born.

Who lived in the place you called home? What was the setting and landscape? Who were your neighbors? What did your community value?

What elements of your early life brought you comfort and joy?

Is there a moment or specific memory that encapsulates that? Where in that early life did you encounter struggle? What aspects of that world do you intentionally carry with you?

Who is someone who was not there in that original home but shaped those early years?

Maybe a teacher, friend or visitor who introduced a new idea or different perspective?

As you entered your teenage years, what tensions did you feel in your community?

What made you different from your peers? In what ways were you a part of a community? Is there a particular event or specific moment when your character was visible to you and recognized by others?

Was there a time in your adolescence when your character was challenged?

Have there been ways that you have profoundly changed from who you once were, and what brought about that change?

These seasons of change are challenging and can require assistance or guidance. Is there a person or group you turned to for help as you made sense of that situation?

How did they help? What led you to trust them?

As you look forward to the person you hope to become, are there others who you seek to emulate?

What about them is valuable to you? To the world?

How would you describe the legacy you hope to leave?

How does it relate to your home of origin, your family and your expanding community? How could it depend on those you have yet to meet? What do you hope to do to become that person?

Wake Forest Magazine

Your character biography exercise

Your Character Autobiography

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