Review and Preview CLARITY: Part 2
Part 2 of CLARITY helps you uncover the strengths and qualities that shape your Identity. These SQAs become the foundation of your High IDQ.
6. Traits – Add Your SQAs
We seldom take time to notice the Strengths, Qualities and Attributes (SQAs) we bring to everyday situations. Even elite performers struggle with this. I’ve coached world-class athletes who couldn’t name what they contribute to their team. Parents often go silent when I ask what makes them good mothers or fathers. Leaders rarely list more than two or three strengths.
And yet our SQAs are the foundations of our Identity. An intuitive grasp of them is the bedrock of confidence and mental strength. When you Review a past challenge and look for the SQAs you brought to it, you are “using the difficulty” in the most empowering way. You become mindfully aware of your unique abilities.
SQAs Lead You On Your High IDQ Journey
As you practise R&P, your list of everyday strengths grows. With repetition, your awareness of these strengths shifts from conscious reflection into your automatic System 1.
That shift builds confidence, resilience and momentum toward a High IDQ.
So each time you Review a past challenge, take a moment to identify the SQAs you showed, even if the overall situation didn’t go perfectly.
Use the Good Times Too
Although we’ve focused on “Use the Difficulty,” your Review diary should also include moments you’re proud of, times you handled pressure well or showed your best qualities in everyday life.
These positive SQAs matter. They help build resilience just as much as the ones you discover through struggle. Add them to your growing list.
The prompt list below can help you get started, but use your own words wherever possible. Your own language is always the most powerful.
With time, you’ll notice 10–12 strengths appearing again and again. These become your personal signature, the core of who you are at your best.
Over time, these repeated strengths stop feeling forced and start to feel natural.
7. Your Identity
Review gradually builds a unique list of personal strengths, your superpowers.
Over time, your System 1 begins to recognise these qualities as Lasting, Broad and Self.
That means they feel reliable, widely applicable and genuinely yours, qualities you can draw on in any situation.
When this shift happens, your perception changes. Your System 1 starts creating an Edited Reality shaped by these strengths, not by limitations.
You feel calmer, more confident, and more able to access your abilities when you need them most.
As you continue the process, your sense of who you are evolves, and so does your IDQ.
Your Evolving Identity: Who Are You?
Look over your growing list of SQAs and ask:
“What sort of person has these qualities?”
Describe them briefly.
Then rewrite the description as if you are describing yourself:
“I am…”
At first, these statements may feel clunky or inconsistent. That’s fine. Over time, a clearer, steadier self-image will emerge, a picture of your High Score Identity. It will be consistent across challenges and will become the anchor of your Edited Reality.
That’s when you know you’ve got it.
Use Your Identity
When you begin to define your Identity, you can bring it to mind in difficult moments. It gives you immediate access to your strengths and helps you stay at your confident best.
This works perfectly with the Interrupt and Breathe step of CLARITY, introduced earlier as the way you steady your body and keep System 2 online.
When you notice early warning signs of stress:
- Use 7–11 breathing to steady your body and keep System 2 online.
- Deploy Your Identity by recalling the qualities that define you.
If your Identity statement is:
I am resilient, capable and determined.
Then breathe gently and repeat it to yourself.
It reminds you that you are strong enough, resourceful enough and ready for the challenge.
Combine these two steps, and you’ll respond with calm clarity instead of panic. Each time you do this, your IDQ grows stronger.
Putting It All Together
Review helps you uncover the strengths you already possess.
Those strengths shape your Identity.
Your Identity shapes your Edited Reality.
And your Edited Reality shapes how you perform under pressure.
With a steady R&P habit:
- you notice your strengths,
- they become part of your Identity,
- your Identity becomes your source of confidence,
- your confidence lifts your IDQ, and
- your IDQ shapes the life you’re capable of living
You are giving your talents wings.
If you’re keeping this work in one place, the Review cards in the 7 Skills App Library make it easy to spot SQAs and patterns over time.
Up Next: Preview with FIRST
Preview is your tool for future challenges, the drill that gives you laser focus and unshakable confidence before pressure hits.
Click here for: Preview: Unfolding Your High IDQ with FIRST
Review & Preview Links
Introducing Review and Preview
How to Review with CLARITY – Part 1