Roles are a way to perceive the different “hats” you wear in your life. They represent your priorities (well, they should! If they don’t, now is a good time to explore why not!) We have different sets of responsibilities that correspond with each of our Roles.

To be more specific about what your Roles might be, think broad categories. Mine, for example, are: friend/family member, entrepreneur, healthy woman, partner (girlfriend), & community member. Notice they are nouns, not verbs. Naturally, since we are diverse and creative people, there is overlap between them.

Before exploring some of the practical uses of the Roles paradigm [preview: how to benefit from Roles in the context of time management & digital and paper file management] let’s add some meaning and depth to these nouns. For example, I can say, “I’m a healthy woman.” But if I’m needing inspiration and encouragement to stay healthy and be more healthy, I could use a little more juice for motivation.

This motivation comes from visualization. Shakti Gawain covers many different facets of the power of this tool in her book, Creative Visualization. In a nutshell, anything physical exists first in concept. The more detail I add to a concept, the more encouragement it has to come into manifestation.

Take a few moments to imagine yourself in each Role. Let’s use Community Member as an example. Close your eyes and picture yourself in the full expression of the Community Member you know you can and want to be. Explore what it feels like, how you are interacting with others, feel satisfaction in your actions to bring joy to others, feel the appreciation from others for your assistance. Explore as many aspects of your vision of yourself as the best Community Member you can be, in a way that is right for you. Come to a place of feeling great about your vision.

One of the extremely powerful results of this visualization is the model you establish for yourself. It provides a place of reference from which to evaluate potential engagements. Say you are approached to serve on a Board of a community based organization. Check in with your vision, then imagine yourself in the proposed situation. Do they mesh? Is the proposed situation taking you towards, or away from, the Best Community Member you can be? (Saying “yes” to everything and everyone is not the definition of a good community member!) Only say “Yes,” if it is right for you. This sounds like a statement by ObviousMan but really! if you don’t know what is right for you, how can you be discerning? :) Visualizing yourself in your Roles provides that reference of “right”