Sweet Spot

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Every passion can be found somewhere, at some point in your story. You don’t randomly get a passion.

• We will be mining out the participants narrative to help them mine out their passions.
• Highlight the main question we are asking in Passion Circle: “What Fuels Me the Most?”

How It Works

BIG IDEA: If you don’t interpret your story, your past will determine your future. If you DO interpret your story, your past can fuel your future.

• Give people 7 minutes to write out their list of top 10 high points and hard times on the Hinge Moments worksheet.
• Once everyone has finished, have them score each hinge moment on a scale of 1 to 10, positive or negative, depending if it’s a high point or hard time. (1 minute)
• Participants circle the top 10 most defining hinge moments of their life (1 minute).
• Give participants 4 minutes to map out the top 10 hinge moments on the Life-Line worksheet. (It doesn’t have to be even between hard/high.)
• Have participants insert three break points into their Life-Line, creating four different chapters in their life with the age range for each chapter. (2 minutes) Later they will name these chapters but for now the age range serves as a chapter title.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: If you don’t interpret your story, your past will determine your future. If you DO interpret your story, your past can fuel your future.

• Bring the age range over to the Life Discovery Grid, initially serving in each of the top boxes to designate the four different chapters of their life
• Have participants fill out a draft of the Life Discovery Grid by filling out 2-5 bullet points in each square of the grid (examples, instructions and questions also available in the Participant Guide).
• Once the grid is complete, participants go back and name each of the chapters in a way that feels significant to each chapter.
• Give space for people to quietly reflect on God’s hand in their life as they think through the Life Discovery Grid questions. 
• After they’ve evaluated their 4 chapters, have them guess, “In light of what you’ve seen in your past, what do you think the next chapter of life will look like?”

How It Works

BIG IDEA: We will practice Three-Way Listening throughout this journey: 1. To the Holy Spirit for counsel and conviction; 2. To one another for encouragement and insight; and 3. To ourselves for awareness and response.

• Give each participant time to write down 3 insights from each chapter on Page 11 in their Orange Notebook.
• Explain how the sharing time will work, walking through how people will take notes in their participation guide.
• Facilitate sharing: Give each person 7-8 minutes to share their story and allow the group 2 minutes to ask questions once they are done sharing.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: A Life Drift is when we tend to multiply our brokenness by medicating our primary issues with secondary issues, instead of going to the cross with our brokenness.

• Introduce Appetite, Approval and Ambition as the life drifts through Luke 4:1-14.
• Demonstrate how we often multiply our own brokenness by moving from one to the other.
• Show how ‘at the cross’ Jesus addresses each of these drifts (Gospel).
• Highlight that He was led into the desert full of the Holy Spirit and on the other side of temptations is empowered by the Spirit – the same empowerment Christ followers have today.
• Identify core issues for each of the three A’s and the lie behind each core issue. Reiterate that Satan contextualizes these lies to each person (not everyone hears them the same way).
• Show, and give examples, of how the three A’s become Celebrity, Consumerism and Competition in American Culture.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Knowing our drift patterns can become transformational. Being a disciple is about recognition and recovery – do we see our brokenness and turn to the cross? Growth happens when the time gap between recognition and recovery decreases.

• Have participants go back to their life story and identify which Life Drift they struggled with in each chapter, thinking through how they either multiplied brokenness or took it to the cross, writing it down on the ‘My Life Drifts’ worksheet.
• Have them spend time filling out the Life Drifts Grid: Directly identify the lies they were tempted to believe about God, life and themselves. Then, identify the Gospel truth they now believe, or are learning to believe, in light of each lie (Life Truth).

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Three-Way Listening opportunity: 1. To the Holy Spirit for counsel and conviction; 2. To one another for encouragement and insight; and 3. To ourselves for awareness and response.

• Explain how the sharing time will work, walking through how people will take notes in their participation guide.
• Facilitate sharing: Give each person 5 minutes to share their Primary/Secondary Drifts in each chapter and highlight a dominant lie and subsequent truth in their story.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Passion is conviction that becomes contagious because it withstands the test of pain.

• Give participants 10 minutes to answer the questions in the funnel, in a brainstorm manner, asking them to think through the things they are interested in, passionate about and burdened by.
• This is not an exhaustive list but enough that helps them narrow down to 5 words/themes at the bottom of the funnel.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: What offends you most will most likely be an “opposite indicator” of what you value most.

• Participants name 4 offenders in no particular order.
• Offenders are what make you pound your fist or are highly irritating, whether it is a small pet peeve or something that is a deeper offense.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Are your passions evident to those who know you?

• Participants text 12 people, asking for the top three words that best describe what they are most passionate about.
• Write responses in the Passion 360 worksheet.
• Have participants hone in on the 4 words that seem most frequent and/or are best representative of the responses. 
• Make sure they are using copy-and-paste in their texting and not typing it out 12 times.
• Emphasize that they should send individual texts and not a thread so responders are not influenced by others.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Your contribution is discovered as you discover God’s dream for you and design your life accordingly.

• First have participants choose a category that best represents their current or desired trajectory of contribution to the world.
• Then within that category star or circle one (or two if difficult to decide) types that further articulate that trajectory.
• This does not mean it is the only thing they contribute but rather help to clarify what most satisfies them.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: “Gifting connects our lives to God’s power. Passions direct our lives with God’s precision.” – Dave Rhodes

• Have participants look through their work from all of the Passion Circle tools.
• Using their notes, have participants hone in on each of the answers the Passion Circle Inventory Worksheet is requesting.
• Communicate that having this inventory on one sheet of paper will be very helpful as they continue in the process.
• After they’ve filled out the Passion Circle Inventory, they need to file it under the ‘Sweet Spot” tab in Notebook.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: This is an opportunity to pause within the Clarity Spiral for interpretation and inscription regarding what you do the best.

• Have participants go through their work from previous sessions related to their Abilities.
• Using their notes, have participants hone in on each of the answers the Ability Circle Inventory Worksheet is requesting.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: “When we learn to name reality, we release the power to change it. When I name it, I can change it.”

• Talk through the importance of naming using Biblical Patterns and modern day examples.
  • Biblical Pattern #1 in Naming: Sometimes we need a name change. (Biblical examples of name changes, focusing primarily on Jacob.)
  • Biblical Pattern #2 in Naming: Sometimes we need to live up to our name (Biblical examples of living up to the name, using Gideon as the primary example)
  • Give examples from your own life.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: When I name it I can change it. Names sometimes have positive impact and other times negative.

• Give participants a few minutes to write down names people have spoken over them, good and bad, and write down on their worksheet. 
• Give participants 30 minutes to write down names that God might be giving them now,
  and has given them in the past, writing notes down on their worksheet.
• Give participants a brief amount of time to scan their worksheet and write some reflective thoughts on the experience, as well as any insights or paradigm shifts they had.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Understanding the meaning of our given name leaves room for God to speak and can offer insight into our identity.

• Remind people that names actually mean things, when you understand the definition of each part of your name.
• Give a couple of examples, including your own.
• Have people use websites below or others they are familiar with and fill out the ‘Name calling’ worksheet.
  • https://ohbabynames.com/
  • https://namestories.com/
• See if participants can construct a coherent sentence that incorporates various pieces of their name meanings that resonates with them.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: A personality assessment can help describe us NOT define us. Insights describes HOW you like to work and interact in the world.

• Have participants turn to page 16 on their insights profile and locate themselves on the wheel.
• Explain the matrix that makes up the wheel and its’ 4 quadrants.
• Label each quadrant, giving the following explanations:
  • The color of each quadrant as it relates to the matrix
  • The animal name and bird name for each quadrant
  • The healthy and shadow side of each quadrant.
  •  The ideal length of communication/interaction for each quadrant
  • The way each quadrant deals with stress and conflict
• Talk through the conscious and unconscious diagrams.
• Explain preference flow.
• See additional content section for helpful explanations of all the above.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Three-Way Listening opportunity: 1. To the Holy Spirit for counsel and conviction; 2. To one another for encouragement and insight; and 3. To ourselves for awareness and response.

• Give participants 10 minutes to complete the Insights Reporting pages in their workbook.
• Facilitate sharing: Give each person 3 minutes to share a few insights from the Reporting pages.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Strength = Natural Talent + Knowledge + Skills + Experience. Our natural talents can be unexercised muscles if not combined with the other three ingredients.

• Have participants print out report ahead of time and review themselves, highlighting what resonates most and come prepared to share.
• Emphasize the Strength equation in the Big Idea as a teaching point of how our strengths require “exercise”.
• Talk through the 4 larger categories each strength falls under and have participants circle their strengths on this chart.
• Encourage participants to celebrate the strengths that God has given to them by giving a few minutes to write them out and highlight what they appreciate most about how their Top 5 show up in their life.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: “Everyone’s called to be unique, but no one is called to be independent.”

• Have participants print out report ahead of time and review themselves, highlighting what resonates most and come prepared to share.
• Read Ephesians 4:11-19.
• Explain the purpose of APEST and how it helps the Church step into maturity. Our responsibility is to know what leadership gift we have and how we should partner with others in the Church to fully manifest Jesus.
• Have them complete the APEST Summary reflection sheet and talk through insights (approximately 15 minutes on that)

How It Works

BIG IDEA: This is an opportunity to pause within the Clarity Spiral for interpretation and inscription and to understand how our individual unique qualities work together.

Give time for participants to populate the summary funnel with inventory from all 3 assessments and then pause to interpret how all 3 lenses help them understand their unique ability.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Some of our most “motivated moments” may not be seen or affirmed by others.

• Have participants highlight 5 accomplishments in their life that were not based on reward or recognition but simply how satisfied they felt in that accomplishment.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: This is an opportunity for courageous awareness through brutiful honesty.

• The two questions that are asked in Ability 360 require trust and vulnerability.
• Encourage participants to ask a few trusted individuals who they know can be objective and honest.
• This is an exericse that will need to be initiated and completed outside of session.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: This is an opportunity to pause within the Clarity Spiral for interpretation and inscription regarding what you do the best.

• Have participants go through their work from previous sessions related to their Abilities.
• Using their notes, have participants hone in on each of the answers the Ability Circle Inventory Worksheet is requesting.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Context is often responsible for a person’s discontent because they may be operating outside of their best context.

• Give a brief overview again of how Context fits into the wider Sweet Spot tool. We’ve done the Passion & Ability Circles, now we are doing Context.
• Work through the following assessments to help participants more fully discover their context:
  • Live Sent
  • Activator and Advantage
  • Workplace Motivators
  • Workstyle
  • Organizational Preferences
  • Life Stage Identification

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Our God is a sending God and we are uniquely positioned to be sent by Him to engage with particular people and places.

• Have participants answer each of the 4 questions – both descriptions and specifics.
  • Who Brings Out My Best?: These are the people that are our best match, who sharpen us and offer life-giving relationships.
  • To Whom Should I Give My Best?: These are the people we are uniquely wired to invest in based on our story, design and calling. People that are ready to receive our investment. People of Peace.
  • What Place Needs My Best?: These are the places that we are drawn to invest in based on calling, circumstances, and connection. Places that are in need of and can receive our greatest impact.
  • What Place Brings out My Best?: Where do you go for refreshment? Is it the place that receives your contribution or is it different? Do you regularly seek to “withdraw” to those places?

How It Works

BIG IDEA: We each have different contexts where we excel and thrive.

Remember, quick blink answers will be most accurate in this circle.
Have participants look at the lists one at a time. For each list, consider the three options and list them in the boxes in rank order from 1 to 3, from greatest to least resonance.

• Have participants rank from 1 to 3 both what gets them going most each day and where they excel the most relative to others.

How It Works

Remember, quick blink answers will be most accurate in this circle.

• Have participants circle the Top 5 things that motivate them within the workplace.

How It Works

Remember, quick blink answers will be most accurate in this circle.

• After each category, have participants circle their preferred style of work.

How It Works

Remember, quick blink answers will be most accurate in this circle.

• Under each organizational category, have participants circle their preference.
• This does not mean they are unable to work in other places but this helps them see where they are most comfortable.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Life Stage Awareness frees us for greatest impact in every stage of life.

• Talk through the benefits of life stage awareness while giving the fill in the blank answers.
• Define the 5 Life Stages as written in provided chart.
• Ask participants to identify their current life stage and also consider what may be keeping them from stepping successfully into the next.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: This is an opportunity to pause within the Clarity Spiral for interpretation and inscription regarding the best environments for your life’s greatest impact.

• Have participants go through their work from this session related to Context.
• Using their notes, have participants hone in on each of the answers the Context Circle Inventory Worksheet is requesting.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: There are many things you can do. What is the one thing you MUST do that only YOU can do? 

• Demonstrate the overlap of the three circles and where they come together to form the Sweet Spot – this is where the shape of the tools comes from.
• There are three ways to name your Sweet Spot in this tool.
  • First is the Signature Scripture which is a verse that has long held significance for the participant OR one that encapsulates well the overarching theme of their sweet spot.
  • Second, participants will take 4 big ideas that they synthesize from each of the 3 Circle inventories to create one long run-on sentence.
  • Lastly, are the Two Words that express their LifeCall. The work of mining out their two words is what comes next.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: What is the ONE thing you must do? 

There are two different ways you can have participants complete the Two Word Worksheet:

1. Introduced early on in Journey 1 it can be a gradual population of expressing their LifeCall as they are in process of understanding their Sweet Spot. (Common practice for Accelerators)

2. After all 3 Circles are completed and Sweet Spot inventory is already populated creating a large language bank to pull from. (Common practice for Weekly Cohort)

Demonstrate the structure of their two word pairing as __(verb)__ing __noun___.

Objective is 100-200 word pairings. Quantity leaves room for creativity and clarity without disclaimers.

60% clarity is the goal at this point.

How It Works

BIG IDEA: Sweet spot helps you find the one thing-singularity of your SPECIAL calling, without being too general or too specific.

• Have participants add their “best way I say this today” Two Words to their Sweet Spot summary as the final way of expressing the clarity of their sweet spot that serves as an internal compass for them as an individual.
• Encourage participants that their Two Words are a primary breakthrough component of the Younique process that will daily inform and clarify the most natural way that they can’t help but step into the life God has given to them.