Step 4: Create a portrait of yourself as a Decision Maker

The first chapter that will go in your Journey Book is—of course—about you! So write a story about some of the decisions you have made and about what you learned from your experience.

To get ideas for this portrait of yourself, start just as Brian and Stephanie did. Begin a discussion with your group. Tell your Story-Behind-the-Story . Let them act as your Planning Partners. Here's how.

How do you begin a Story-Behind-the-Story dialogue?

What the Story Teller Does

What the Planning Partners Do

Start the Story

You are the story teller, so tell us about the problem you faced. Make your story lead up to the point at which you had to make a difficult decision.

But as soon as you describe that moment—before you tell us what you did or why—STOP!

Listen with imagination

Ask for Predictions

Now ask us to predict what we think you did. See how many rival hypotheses you can get us to imagine.

As the story teller, you get to ask us 3 hard questions:

What decision do you think I made? And why?
What do you think the problem is here?
Whose problem is it?

Predict Rival Possibilities

See how many different rival hypotheses you can imagine:

What did the story teller decide?
What is the real problem here?
Whose problem is it?W

Reveal the Story

Tell us about your decision.

What did you do?
Why?
What is the problem here?
If it was a bad decision, how did you recover?

Tip: Jot down good rivals and your own answers. Include these when you write your Portrait for Chapter One

Get the Story-Behind-the-Story

Here is where you—the planning partner—can help the story teller dig deeper. Your job is to ask:

Why? What is the real problem here?
How did you feel about yourself? Were you proud of something? Did other people see it the same way?
Did you learn something from this experience about yourself or others?

Before you tell your story, be sure you know how to RIVAL. Then come back for a Story-behind-the-Story discussion with your group.

NOW...Take Time Out for a Strategy Session
Rivaling: A Strategy for Bringing More Voices to The Table
>> View the Rivaling Strategy Session (pgs. 4-5) (If you do not have your Strategy Session worksheet with you, you may click here to download a copy.)

Are you ready to write your portrait?

This portrait of you as a decision maker includes 2 stories: One is about a good decision and one about a bad decision—and how you recovered from it.

Start with the good or the bad decision. Include ideas you heard in the story-behind-the-story discussion. Do the rivals tell you something about yourself as a decision maker?

Tips for writing your story

Write your story like you told it. Give a dramatic description leading up to the climax—the point at which you had to make a decision. Stop.

Tell the story-behind-the-story—this is the story that only you can tell about how you felt and what it really meant to you. Remember, you are the expert here—the one with the "insider" knowledge. For instance, you might use the story-behind-the-story strategy to help adults understand this problem or decision—from a teenager's point of view.
Compare the rival hypotheses your partners came up with to what you really did? What is the story-behind-the-story here? Why did you do what you did? And what did you learn?
When you have written your first draft of your stories, use the check list below to review them and see how many signs of strong decision making you were using.

Review Your Stories: Do they show the signs of STRONG DECISION MAKING?

Look at your stories and give each one a

if it has the following features


	Specifics: It is detailed and elaborated with specifics
	Steps: It spells out specific actions or steps I took
	Personal fit: It is personal and clearly refers to my situation (beyond what anyone might say about this general problem)
	Reasons: It goes further to explain my idea by giving reasons with words like "since" or "because" or "so."
	Rivals: It raises rivals and talks about alternatives to my own ideas

So how strong is the decision making in your stories?

Scores
10-8	This is a STRONG decision chapter that shows lots of reflection.
7-5	Very Good. This has lots of good thinking.
4-3	Trying Hard? A good start. Where could you make your story more reflective?
2-0	Needs Some Work!