2 What roles do I play in life?

Another way of identifying your capabilities is to consider the roles that you’ve played in your life. Imagine yourself as an actor in your own life, like a character in a movie. You probably play a lot of different roles. You might have roles as a parent, employee, friend or student, and each role you play demands different things of you.

For example, if you have previously been a student, you would have needed the skills of learning, time management and communicating in writing. Perhaps you enjoy DIY? If so, you have developed not only practical skills but also learned how to plan and organise as well. If you are a parent, you are likely to have developed a whole range of skills including budgeting, time management, organising, cooking, negotiating, dealing with admin, etc. If you chair meetings of a club, you will have developed your ability to deal with a variety of people, provide leadership and communicate effectively.

Case study: Tom’s roles in life

Look at Tom’s list below. It shows some of the roles he plays and what these roles demand of him.

  1. Student representative: attending meetings to give the views of my class to teachers and lecturers, communicating with people on the same course as me.
  2. Volunteer at Samaritans’ helpline: listening to people talk about their worries, planning my shifts to fit with other team members and my family.
  3. Head gardener: teaching summer students the basics, operating machinery, planning seasonal jobs so they are shared out across the team.
  4. Son: driving my elderly mother to see her friends, using the internet to do online shopping with her.
  5. Treasurer of pub darts team: taking and banking membership fees, paying expenses, and giving reports.

Obviously, there are many more capabilities that could have been included here, but hopefully these will spark ideas about your own roles in life in this next activity.

Activity 3

Timing: Allow about 30 minutes
By signing in and enrolling on this course you can view and complete all activities within the course, track your progress in My OpenLearn Create. and when you have completed a course, you can download and print a free Statement of Participation - which you can use to demonstrate your learning.

You've now completed Section 2 - 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.

3 What learning experiences have I had?