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# 5 What are my helping and hindering factors?

As a result of all the work that you have done so far in Block 1, you should now have a good idea about your capabilities, the roles you play and your likes and dislikes. If not, take a step back and review the evidence that you have collected so far. Think again about what you know, what you can do and what you enjoy doing or are good at.

The next step is to put the information that you have gathered so far together with what is happening in your life now. You can make a start on this by making a list of positive and negative factors that may either help or hinder your plans. The next activity will give you further advice and guidance on how to do this.

## Activity 7

Allow about 15 minutes

Make a list of the good and bad points about your home and work situations. We’re not asking you to make judgements here, just to note as many points as you can under the headings of ‘Positive’ and ‘Negative’ for both home and work.

It’s up to you to decide which points to include, and whether they are positive or negative. For example, I used to work with someone who lived 30 miles away from work, while I lived within walking distance. He refused to live nearer because he hated the idea of work being on the doorstep, while I hated the idea of spending so much of my day sitting in traffic. Neither of us could understand the other’s decision, so something that would be a positive for me was a negative for him and vice versa.

If you already have some idea of what you want to do in the future, this can help you to decide whether or not the factors you identify are positive or negative in relation to your plans. However, even if you don’t have a clear idea of what you want to do, just thinking about and listing factors that seem important to you in your work or home life can help you to understand what may help or hinder as you plan for the future.

### Positive

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### Negative

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You've now completed Section 5 - well done! We hope that you have found your study useful and are motivated to carry on with the course. Remember, if you pass the quiz at the end of each block you will be able to download a badge as evidence of your learning and you can download a statement of participation that recognises your completion of the whole course.

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OpenLearn - Planning a better future
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