What's Your Culture Personally?

When I talk about culture, people typically think I mean at their work. When was the last time you thought about your own personal culture? Let me define that; Your own personal culture is really how you operate and interact in your life everyday. It is the words that people would be left with after meeting you. Its the choices you make each day and the way you purposely live.

I am under the impression that if you know what culture you would create for yourself, then you are empowered to choose what parts of our larger culture you will participate in and support. Equally, it empowers you to decide which aspects you will ignore or avoid.

I mention on my website that my friend Krista helped me breakdown my personal culture into 5 words. Each of these words sums up what is critically important to me, what message I want people to get from me and how I want to operate each day. It is a great measuring stick for my daily life and activities.

In order to define your personal culture:
1) Take a piece of paper and a quiet moment to define what is important to you in terms of what you like to do, what you value, what is meaningful in your life.
2) Second, think about what others would say about you if I asked them. How would they describe you? Not sure, then ask 5 friends to give a list of 10 words to describe you.
3) Look at how you live each day - what things consume your time? Work? TV? The gym? How you spend your day says a lot about what is important to you.
4) Create a list of all the words that come out of the first 3 steps. Sit down with someone you trust (and can be honest with) and start to find the words that matter most. Narrow it down to 5 that encompass your culture and your approach. If your chosen words don't match you exactly today, but do match your ideal approach - then good, it gives you something to shoot for.

Need any help? Ask me.