Labor Day is gone, and we are now racing towards the final quarter of the year, with the holiday season rushing towards us. This is also the time of year, as a sales manager, that I would begin reviewing my office’s performance and prepare for a substantial goal setting and planning meeting that I would be attending sometime in October. This year I am a solopreneur, but I’m continuing the tradition and adding a twist by deepening the analysis with a personal survey.

Below is the 5×5 Appraisal I created. It includes five fundamental questions requiring five personalized and specific answers. I found this to be a very mindful and provoking exercise. It was simple enough for me to offer up the first one or two responses for each question. As I progressed through the assignment, it became more challenging.

Here are the questions in my 5×5 Appraisal:

1. Name five things you are proud of accomplishing in your life or vocation.

2. Name five things you would like help with to improve in your vocation, personal growth, or reach of your mission.

3. Name five networks, memberships, affiliations, or groups that you are associated with for professional, recreational, social, academic, or another accord.

4. Name five bucket list items that might include: A. People you’d like to meet or spend time with. B. Places you’d like to visit or live. C. Activities you’d like to try or master.

5. Name five goals you would like to achieve in the next twelve to twenty-four months.

Depending on what you are working on in your life you can use this 5X5 Appraisal framework to paint a picture of where you have been and where you would like to go further. You can choose to focus the questions into one primary area of your life such as business, personal relationships, or health. You can also apply it to your life in a universal format incorporating all of the areas in your life you are currently working on improving. The answers you provide will help you uncover patterns, areas that need more attention, and where you are out of balance. It will also give you insight into your strengths and networks that you can tap into right away.

The bucket list question is often left out of self-appraisals, replaced solely with goals and objectives. But I believe that it provides you with valuable insight when stepping back and looking at your bucket list from ten thousand feet. Where are you? Who do you see yourself with? What are you doing? How is this list reflecting in your work, relationships, and activities today? Hopefully, you will see a few areas of your life that are already driving you towards the direction of actualization.

If your bucket list feels like a glamorous stranger’s life that you’ll never achieve, then it is time to pick one event from the list and start getting curious about how you could make it happen. For example, if you’ve always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail, buy a book on the subject, spend an afternoon in an REI looking at backpacking gear, find a local park and take a walk, find a group of people that are planning on making the journey and join their community.

Besides helping you move closer to your goals, this self-appraisal can help you with your relationships and with your networking skills. These aspirations are often highly personal, and we tend to hold them close to our hearts fearing the judgment of being considered delusional by others. This is why it can be so hard to call them up and write them down in the appraisal in the first place.

But the insight this 5×5 Appraisal gives you will allow you to connect with other people and opportunities in a new way. Use this framework to share with your colleagues, friends, children, partner, team, or parents. Ask them to complete a 5×5 Appraisal and see where you can support each other. This is where surprising connections to a person or group that you were seeking might suddenly appear. You may also discover that you are the help or link that someone important to you was looking for and without sharing it would have remained concealed.

By the way, I’m looking for an introduction to Laura Benanti, Broadway’s Tony Award Winning actress. I’m a fan and would love to meet her one day. I’m hoping to see her in “My Fair Lady” next February in New York. If anyone can help me make the connection, you’d help me succeed with this bucket list item.

As for helping you with your networking skills, if you know what to ask of them, people will know how to be of service and offer value.  Likewise, when you know your strengths and are mindful of your affiliations, you can be at the ready to be of assistance to others.

Click Here For A Copy For Yourself And To Share:  Lisa Dempsey’s 5×5 Appraisal

 

For my fellow, Laura Benanti fans consider adding one of these to your collection!