When Obama stated in an interview, “What I do in my life defines me. A career is one of the many things I do in my life. I am a mother first,” and then followed this up by making public choices in 2009 to focus on her children and their transition to a new city, a new school, and a new life as the President’s daughters rather than diving headfirst into the First Lady job, she demonstrated the skill of:

 
 
 
 
 
Other Questions Of This Category

Springsteen’s pursuit of self-knowledge through counseling—and his public sharing about his journey—destigmatized counseling and opened doors for people, especially men, who might not otherwise seek…

Thinking expansively about how a task you do contributes to the well-being of others, reflecting on the meaning of what you do, and recognizing how even mundane tasks hold meaning can inspire you to…

In the aftermath of 9/11, Springsteen struggled to come to terms with what had occurred. He produced songs to express the grief and hope he found in himself, his family, and his community. Not only…

Keeping a journal or log for a few days of any hypotheses that occur to you for new ways of getting things done, choosing one such idea to implement, and thinking about the assumptions about the way…

When she worked to improve her family’s functioning by carving out private time to work out in the morning and, at the same time, compelling her husband to take some domestic responsibilities, Obama…

By forsaking more comfortable career paths to join the Navy so he could move beyond merely providing relief and to stay true to his belief that protection with force was a necessary complement to…

By challenging sexist institutional arrangements and investing time and energy to battle the forces that would repeal Title IX regulations designed to create parity for women’s sports, Julie Foudy…

Identifying three or four significant events in your life that taught you something about yourself or shaped the person you are, identifying the tension in each experience and how you dealt with it…

By finding ways to move ever closer to achieving simultaneous four-way wins—actions that benefit work, home, community, and self, all at once—such as volunteering for the United Way early in his…

Thinking of a skill you could teach to someone and offering to do so, or telling someone about a recent accomplishment and what you had to learn in order to succeed, serves to create opportunities for…

When Sandberg recounted an experience about herself and two other students attending a college history course that highlighted the confidence gap between female overachievers and male achievers, she…

Picking a few important stakeholders—people you believe are important to your future—from different areas of your life and asking them to describe you briefly in order to discover how others see you…

Finding someone you can make a commitment to about reaching a goal and then asking that person to regularly inquire about your progress, and offering to do the same for him or her, can help to…

When Greitens took what he gained in different parts of his life (the attitude and skills he had acquired as a boxer, the knowledge and insight gleaned from his time as a humanitarian worker, the…

Thinking of an important person in your life—someone who matters to you and who you believe has a stake in your future—and imagining how he or she would answer the question, “What are the main things…