Exercise: “Current Shoulds”

What you will get out of this

When making decisions, we often place more value on the “shoulds” and “supposed tos” we’ve been given than our own desires. Not all “shoulds” are detrimental – in fact, some encode valuable wisdom of others. However, it’s dangerous to blindly accept all “shoulds” as valuable.

This exercise helps us identify the current “shoulds” in our lives so we can investigate them.

An example of this exercise at work

Step 1: Dissecting Time Investment

Enumerate the six primary activities that consumed your time this week, indicating the time devoted to each.

Then, segregate these activities based on whether they were chosen willingly or out of obligation.

Step 2: Unearthing Underlying Shoulds

For every obligation listed above, articulate in a few sentences the underlying "shoulds" these obligations cater to, beyond your basic needs.