self-assessment questionnaire by jacob nordby

Self-Assessment Questionnaire

by Jacob Nordby

INTRODUCTION

Many people believe that creativity is limited to artistic pursuits like painting, writing, sculpting, and so forth, and that a responsible adult spends the bulk of their waking hours “uncreatively.”

But accepting this limited definition of creativity is to miss the full magic it offers us.

Creativity is a uniquely human power that transforms everything you touch into the art of your own design. It’s like as an invisible, playful, energy that seeks expression in everything you do, and tapping into this energy is one of the keys to a happy and fulfilling life.

To that aim, this assessment can help provide you with clarity about your life and what you have created so far and serve as a basis to develop a new plan for those areas of your life that aren’t currently fulfilling you.

Before you begin, I want to ask you not to judge yourself or your answers as you fill this assessment out. There are no “right” or “wrong” answers here. Rather, use this assessment as a tool to discover where YOU want to bring more joy into your life.

You are the architect (AKA artist) of your life. No one else can create it for you. The goal of this assessment is to help you notice any areas that need to be repainted, resculpted, or rewritten.

PERSONAL ASSESSMENT

Complete each section as quickly as possible. Don’t overthink this. Allowing your feelings and intuition to come forward will provide surprising insight and clarity.

Please relax as you feel into your answers. The questions and answers are for your eyes only and are designed to foster curiosity rather than judgment. You are likely to think of other questions or areas of your life that we didn’t list. Write them down! This is your creativity at work.

WORK & FINANCE

“Work is love made visible.”

- Kahlil Gibran

Most of us spend a large percentage of our time at a job and paying bills, saving for

the future, etc.

Clarity in this area will help you prioritize

your career intentions, make time for your art, and infuse your

efforts with a sense of meaning and purpose.

IDEAS

NO

TES

WORK & FINANCE

Please rate on a scale of 1-10 1 = Disagree and 10 = Agree

My job challenges and inspires me; I look forward to going to work. ____________ The ways I earn a living nourish me rather than exhaust me. ____________ My income is adequate to comfortably afford my lifestyle. ____________ My debt load is manageable and I have a plan to be debt-free. ____________ I have savings and emergency funds. ____________ I feel peaceful about my finances and my financial future. ____________

NOTES: Use the below space like a mini-journal.

How do you feel about your above answers? Do any action items for changing the areas you aren’t happy with come to mind?

List them here if so.

COMMUNITY

“You really won't know where your home is

until you meet your own kind and realize you're both playing the same game.”

- Shannon L. Alder

Your community includes your life

partner, children, natal family, friends, and

extended connections. Do your relationships

feed your life or diminishing your

energy?

Clarity in this area will help you make choices

about where you to improve, make

changes, and set boundaries.

NO

TES

IDEAS

COMMUNITY


My romantic or life partner relationship is loving, supportive, and is characterized by evolving intimacy and friendship. ____________ I do my part to have strong, loving connections with my family members (this could be children, parents, siblings, or all the above). I communicate with them often and we share important life events together. ____________ I have a circle of close friends. We support each other and share in healthy ways. ____________ I have good connections with a wider circle of acquaintances and groups of people who share my interests. ____________ I think of others’ needs and make an effort to be helpful when possible. ____________




WELLNESS

“Don’t move the way fear makes you move. Move the

way love makes you move. Move the way joy makes you move.” - Osho

Do you have a strong, healthy foundation to

support the life you want to live?

Use this section to spot places where

you need to improve your self-care and activities

that will nourish and fulfill you.

IDEAS

NO

TES

WELLNESS


I like my body—how it looks, feels, and moves. ____________ I am physically active on a regular basis and/or have a regular exercise practice that is healthy and sustainable. ____________ I take time to read, learn, and otherwise feed my mind. ____________ I get proper sleep and make space for play and downtime. ____________ I have a meaningful, consistent spiritual or mindfulness practice. ____________ I love being creative in my own way and I engage in making my art regularly. ____________ I have hobbies that are interesting and enriching; I engage in them regularly. ____________




ENVIRONMENT

Like your physical body that houses your mind and

spirit, your home and style of living

can provide joy and comfort or can be a place that doesn’t

feel good and drains you.

The choice is yours.

"Home is a state of mind. A place of communion and unconditional love. It is where, when you cross its

threshold, you finally feel at peace.” - Dennis Lehane

NO

TES

IDEAS

ENVIRONMENT


I enjoy the region I live in, it’s where I want to live. ____________ My house and furnishings reflect who I am and how I want to live. ____________ My home is my castle. I enjoy this space inside and out. ____________ I enjoy traditions and meaningful events in my home with friends and family. ____________ My home is a place of respite, connection, and peace. ____________




INNER SELF

“A self is not something static, tied up in a pretty parcel and handed to the child, finished and complete. A self is always

becoming.” - Madeleine L'Engle

Your inner self, or your inner essence, is the true you at the deepest level.

Until we become comfortable in our own skin, it is very difficult to create lasting change in the other areas of life.

A strong sense of self

becomes your intuitive guide and helps you

move in the direction of your heart’s desires in

every other area.

NO

TES

IDEAS

INNER SELF


I am comfortable in my own skin; I like who I am. ____________ I often judge myself, get down on myself, or berate myself internally. ____________ I am my own best friend. ____________ I am clear about my values, but also open to evolve and explore ideas outside of my accustomed mindset. ____________ My values guide my actions at home and work, even when no one else is watching. ____________




CONCLUSION Take a short break. Read back over your responses. Notice which areas feel light, good, and healthy, and which areas feel heavy, painful, or toxic. As you do this, please relax. If you have not taken stock of these things in some time, you may be surprised at the number of items that come into sharp and unpleasant clarity. You don’t need to fix or address all these items at once. **Important! No sudden moves. Please do not use this exercise as a pretext to make large, sudden life changes. You may need time, coaching, or professional help to transition into a life that matches your true self more fully, in a way that is loving to yourself and those around you, while not sacrificing your honest desires.

FOR CONTINUED EXPLORATION ‘Listening to Yourself’ Exercise Set aside a time to QUICKLY make a list of every current “mess” you can think of in your life. Nothing is too small or insignificant. List everything from a shoe with broken laces, to the overdue oil change, to an imbalanced friendship, an unsatisfying job or relationship, and beyond. This is a process of allowing space to pay real attention to your needs, irritations, preferences, and what you have been tolerating. Write it out in long sentences and stories, or in simple list style, list everything that does, could, or should bother you in your life—especially those things you always pretend are “no big deal” or shouldn’t really be a problem. Be specific and thorough. You will notice that this exercise of listening to yourself frees up much-needed energetic space. Your creative nature is primed to fill the open space and help you transform each of these areas in ways that will delight you and inspire further growth. You may connect with Jacob Nordby at www.jacobnordby.com Join the mailing list to be notified of upcoming live events and online courses that will help you deepen this

work of creative self-discovery and transformation.

© Manifesto Publishing House, Inc. All Rights Reserved 2018 This material developed by Jacob Nordby with Brie Bolopue

http://www.jacobnordby.com

How to Establish your

Creative Self Journaling Practice

by Jacob Nordby author of

The Divine Arsonist Blessed Are the Weird–A Manifesto for Creatives

The Creative Cure (releasing in February 2021 – Hierophant Publishing)

© Jacob Nordby & Manifesto Publishing House, Inc. 2020 All Rights Reserved

hat I’m about to share with you is a practice that changed my life. I have used it now almost every day for years. I have also taught this different approach to journaling in my online

courses and workshops—and to private guidance clients. If you’re like me, you have heard that, “…you need to journal,” for a long time. Maybe a therapist or counselor has suggested that you do it. Nearly every self-‐help and personal development book comes layered with self-‐reflection exercises that involve the use of a journal. You want to know a dirty little backstage secret from the self-‐help industry? Okay, I’ll tell you. Almost nobody really does it. Everybody knows that journaling is a good thing, but in my experience most people struggle to make it a valuable, regular practice in their lives. There are many reasons for this. Here are the top three that I’ve heard:

1). I don’t like to write. I’m not very good at it, so trying to journal is hard. 2). When I try to journal, the only thing that comes out is boring, whiny, barfy drivel. 3). I’m under so much pressure that finding the time to do something like this is just too hard.

Everyone is really saying, “I don’t care how valuable the experts say this is, I don’t see how it will really help me, so it’s not worth the time and effort to add one more thing to my already hectic life.” I know, you’re saying other things because you’re a highly unique individual and not like those other sheep.

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Here’s the thing. I don’t want to preach at you or sell you on journaling. However, I would love to invite you into a slightly different approach that can become a rich conversation with yourself—and give you surprising benefits for the rest of your life. What are these benefits? I’ll tell you in a minute, but first let me say that I developed this practice with the help of a few influential books and I’ll list them at the end. You are probably familiar with one of the most famous of these books, The Artist’s Way, by my dear friend Julia Cameron. That’s how I got started and is still the foundation upon which this practice is built. Well, besides making you look deep and mysterious when you’re sitting there writing away in a coffee shop, there are several other key benefits to approaching your journal practice from this direction.

1). It helps you get reacquainted with what I call “your inner creative self.” This is your whole psyche—which includes your rational mind and the parts that may have been shut down or neglected. 2). It helps you process questions, anxieties, and issues in your life, but in a safe, private place where you don’t need to defend your thoughts, feelings, or ideas to anyone else. 3). It helps you acknowledge your own needs and gain practice stating them clearly to yourself. 4). It helps you get in touch with your dreams and real desires. If you’ve ever said, “I’m not sure what I really want…” this practice can become a guide to show the way until you feel clear.

My life has grown steadily better as I have established this practice over the years. What I mean by that is I’ve noticed myself get clearer, stronger, less anxious, more able to state my needs, and move in the direction of my dreams. I feel that this is the result of healing the

connection—clearing the static so that the voice of my inner creative self can be heard. To my surprise, this voice is so wise, balanced, compassionate, and gentle! This is the case for those I work with, too. Everyone who uses this practice regularly reports surprising improvements and clarity, often in areas of their lives that have been seriously tangled or painful for a long time. If you don’t usually like to write or journal, I’ll offer you small prompts that can pique your curious nature and surprise you when you begin to write so expressively. The truth is, we are all writers. One way or another, most of us are writing constantly: we write emails and reports for work, type out text messages with our thumbs, and post on social media, just to name a few examples. I’d like to guide you into these very simple writing practices that can help you hear the voice of your inner self again. When this happens, you will be astonished at times by what comes out. At other times you are likely to laugh with some relief at seeing the stupid, cruel voices in your head spill out in black and white on paper and realize that they are not your own—I know I do frequently. This begins the process of sorting and separating your own true inner voice from the chatter of social conditioning and harmful beliefs. This practice also develops trust in who you really are and confidence that you can navigate life according to what you desire. As you experiment with the prompts, I encourage you to remind yourself of three things:

1). I am a writer. I can write to myself and express my feelings, needs, desires, and ideas clearly. 2). I’m writing this only for myself and to myself. It’s not for anyone else to see, approve of, or criticize. 3). I don’t need any validation from others in this space; I am learning to be my own best friend and ally.

nstructions. It’s really almost too simple. Your mind might do what mine often does—dismiss this as ineffective because it’s not very complicated. Can sitting down with nothing but a pen and a piece of

paper for ten or twenty minutes every day and answering two or three basic questions really do anything worthwhile? While I can’t answer that for you, I’d like to invite you to try it. Maybe you can tell your mind that this practice is supported by tons of research and many books by experts who know what they’re talking about. My mind is a little bit snobby and gets a lot of comfort from things like that. How to begin: 1). Get a notepad and pen. 2). Set aside ten minutes in a quiet place (if you feel like writing longer, please do—but ten minutes is a great way to start). 3). Write the answers to three questions.

uestion One—“What am I feeling right now?” Let yourself describe ANY feelings you have—including frustration with the process of

writing anything down. This is where you get to be terribly honest; don’t try to be lofty, profound, wise, or kind. Let anything come out that wants to come out. If you feel bored, anxious, tired, afraid, curious, happy, sad… say so. Ask yourself why and let the answers come out on the page. I encourage you to include physical sensations you’re having—describe any discomforts or pain, talk about the small things in your immediate environment that feel good. For example, “I feel my butt nestled solidly in the chair here at Neckar Coffee Shop. My head aches a little because I stayed up too late last night, but the steam from my coffee is a promise that something hot and good will help…”

I

Q

Most of us are so disconnected from our physical selves that writing a few lines about what’s going on around us can help create a more grounded sense. Remember, nothing is too small or silly to write about. The only thing that matters is being honest with yourself. Maybe you’re wrestling with a tough relationship issue—a hurting friendship or romantic partnership, something with a parent or sibling, a worry about one of your children, or something interpersonal at work. Talk about it. Especially describe how you feel about it.

uestion Two—“What do I need right now?” Much like the first question, the only thing that matters now is that you let yourself

tell the truth. Many of us are not in the habit of saying—or even knowing—our needs. This often started in early childhood, when a parent or caregiver (probably unintentionally) communicated to our young psyches that our needs were unimportant or even wrong. This tells a developing mind that having needs isn’t safe and it can take some time and dedicated effort to dismantle the old beliefs. I deal with this in much greater depth in my new book, The Creative Cure, and the books I share at the end also go into detail about how deep this goes. Begin to answer the question, “what do I need right now?” Start small and be honest. It might be something as simple as, “I need to pee.” I suggest that you jump up and do that first before anything else happens. The practice of paying attention to your needs, acknowledging them, and meeting them as quickly as possible, is surprisingly therapeutic. It is an important part of the process of healing the connection to your inner creative self. Please be honest about your larger needs, too. “I need money right now. I feel really anxious about the debts that have piled up…” or “I need a new car,” or “I need a friend—someone I can trust. Someone I feel safe and seen and heard.” Questions One and Two are meant to get you started and it doesn’t matter where you start. Psychologically speaking, all roads can lead you

Q

home to yourself. Expressing the smallest, most shallow seeming anxiety or desire can be a thread you pull that unravels a knotty issue in your life.

uestion Three—“What would I love?” This is a magical question in that it has the power to shift you into a state of possibility and

imagination. I use it often in my own practice and ask it at some point in nearly every personal guidance session with my clients. I encourage you to pick one of the items that is a challenge from Questions One or Two and ask this question. Write the answers without judgment or skepticism. If your mind is like mine, it might say something like, “Well of course you’d love to give yourself a break and take a vacation to somewhere warm but how’s that going to happen when your kids need rides to college and you have metric tons of work to do. Get real.” The point of this question is to simply allow yourself to state what you would love in any given situation. As you write the words, “I would love…” and follow with a statement of an outcome or feeling you desire, you activate your imagination in a positive way. Many of us believe that we lose imagination as we get older. This is not true. What happens is that we are trained to stop imagining what we would love—and this starts to happen at a very young age, usually about the time we enter kindergarten or a little before. We are taught to grow up, stop daydreaming, be realistic, and watch out for risks. This doesn’t stop the imagination, it simply trains us to use it to paint scenes of what we don’t want—the downside, the failure, the missed opportunity, and the pain of disappointed dreams. Question Three is an invitation to let yourself retrain your imagination so that your powerful subconscious mind can begin to turn your choices, behavior, and focus toward what you would love.

Q

You can ask Question Three in a different way, too: “How would I love to feel?” This is often very helpful when you’re in a whirlwind of confusion, anxiety, or insecurity. “How would I love to feel?” Maybe the answer is, “I would love to feel calm and centered right now.” You can follow up with, “How would that feel in my body?” This can lead to taking small actions such as breathing deeply, stretching, and reminding yourself of the truth—“I am safe. I am lovable. I am resourceful.” I have often found that this one question can move me into a different state and help me see the next step forward, rather than remain frozen in anxiety or confusion. I have used this question to help myself move toward finishing a book, losing weight, supporting my children as they become independent adults, healing friendships, and gaining greater confidence and self-‐worth in my life. You can, too. Many people resist establishing a journal practice because it feels like nothing but a festival of complaints and pettiness. It is important to let everything come out and be honest about it, but the Creative Self Journal practice is much more than that. As you tune into yourself this way, you will notice that you are much more than the anxieties, depression, angers, or pain that may need to find expression. With a little consistency, this practice has an accrual effect. If you are willing to be patient and gentle with yourself for ten to twenty minutes per day over the course of a few weeks and then months, something will change. My promise to you is that if you use this simple pattern of questions, you will discover that you develop a new relationship. You will heal and strengthen your connection to your inner creative self. As this happens, you will notice that your daily session isn’t a chore—it’s a conversation with a best friend… you. This best friend never gets tired of listening to you, no matter how often you repeat the same things day after day. This friend is wise and kind.

Your inner creative self longs to become your ally in creating a life that you love. I’d like to invite you forward just one step in this process now, because that’s how this works—just one step at a time. Isn’t that a relief? Notes: I’m often asked if it’s necessary to write by hand. I will say that if at all possible, please use a notepad or journal and pen. If you write on keyboards all the time, you certainly go faster and more comfortably on your computer or mobile device. There are two reasons for writing by hand: 1). It provides a pattern interrupt for your brain. When you slow down and do something that feels unfamiliar or even awkward, you are breaking out of your accustomed mental patterns. This allows for new insights and creative ideas to show up. 2). You access different parts of your brain and experience more of the sensory spectrum. If you have physical pain or limitations that make this impossible, the main thing is that you allow yourself space and time to enter this Creative Self Journaling and ask the questions. Some of my clients use voice journals or recording apps on their phones and find that this helps them. I don’t believe in a specific dogma about how journaling must be done. That misses the point of this experience—to heal the connection to your inner creative self. This ebook, the processes I offer here, and the list of books I provide at the end for further reading are not a substitute for the help of qualified professionals. If you are experiencing anxiety, depression, or other symptoms, please seek professional help. After much research and consultation, I am confident that this material can complement professional therapy or counseling protocols.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jacob Nordby is the author of The Divine Arsonist: A Tale of Awakening, and Blessed Are the Weird – A Manifesto for Creatives. His words have been translated into many languages and shared millions of times around the world. He leads the Creative UnBootcamp course for students around the world, and offers transformational group retreats and individual creative guidance sessions. His third book, The Creative Cure, is set to release by Hierophant Publishing in 2020 with a forward by Julia Cameron. www.jacobnordby.com

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Suggested Reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron—a classic book on creative recovery.

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Writing Down Your Soul by Janet Conner—this book develops the process of journaling as a conversation with yourself for healing and transformation. The Body Keeps the Score : Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.—a deeply revealing book that also supports the use of journaling in healing past trauma. Belonging—Remembering Ourselves Home by Toko-‐pa Turner—this book is a rich invitation to call the orphaned, disowned parts of ourselves home.

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self-assessment questionnaire by jacob nordby

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