One Leaf, One Tree

Invisiblock

As a tree grows, it sprouts leaves that help it grow more, but those leaves may shed after their service ends. For every leaf, the tree goes taller. One leaf contributes to one tree.

You are the tree, and the leaves are the qualities of your Self-identity. This micro action composes “Identity Notes” that help you build visible momentum toward finding out who you really are. This takes 30 seconds or less.

Invisiblock

Build your beliefs, principles, self-worth, uniqueness, narrative continuity, and agency with this exercise that takes 30 seconds or less.

1. Choose a time of day for this activity. Try to do it every day at the same time.
2. Choose a place to do this, like at your desk, on the bus, or on the sofa. Try to do it here every time.
3. Use sticky notes, a digital widget, or scrap paper to write one of the six strings of Self-identity. Write it like this:

• “I focus my attention on (1 of the six strings), and today, I choose to (your goal).”
• Here’s an example. “I focus my attention on beliefs, and today, I choose to believe that it’s okay to ask for help.”

4. It’s important to see your progress. You will need a wall for the sticky notes, jars for the scraps of paper, or digital folders for your electronic notes.
5. Create three sections using the wall, jars, or folders. Title them “Old Me”, “Now Me”, and “Goal Me”. As you grow, move your notes from one section to the other as you see fit.

• For example, suppose you wrote a note about how you react emotionally, and you placed it in the “Now Me” section. If that note no longer applies to you, move it into the “Old Me” section instead of throwing it away. Or, if you accomplish a goal in the “Goal Me” section, move it to the “Now Me”.

How This Helps

1. It helps define who you are and what you prefer. You are indescribable, and sitting down to figure out what you believe is hard. This makes the process easier by focusing one thing at a time.
2. By choosing a time and a place, it helps build an alarm in your mind that reminds you to do it. When you go to that place and at that time, you will prompt yourself out of habit.
3. It activates your agency by giving you a small, easy task to do. You move from a passive question, “Who am I?” to an active expression of who you are.
4. It helps your emotional brain see that you are consistently choosing agency over being passive. The notes are an undeniable proof of your life’s story.
5. It reinforces the idea that claiming your personal power isn’t selfish. It’s your special contribution to the shared reality, and it requires your presence because it comes from your unique private reality.
6. It shows that knowledge about yourself is an ongoing experiment rather than something that stays the same. You evolve, change, and your experience shapes you. Being able to try on aspects of the six strings for a day helps fine tune your self-worth.
7. You take ownership of the things you write. You acknowledge or dismiss aspects of yourself as you see fit.
8. It maintains your forward momentum by visually representing all the things that you wrote. The notes are the proof that you matter and that you have agency in the world.
9. You visually see how you change. By using the Old Me, Now Me, and Goal Me sections, you see how you have evolved over time.
10. You honor the Old Me by acknowledging its contribution to your growth. You don’t forget your experiences; you cherish them because you see the development they gave you.