We start by talking about the roles that we have in our lives. In my case, I am a father, husband, son, brother, nephew, uncle, and other types of family member. I have the role of teacher, which can be subdivided by the ages and subjects that I have taught. The same can be true for my hobbies and other interests, even my faith.
I ask the students to choose four roles that are the most important to them. They are to imagine how those roles might change over time and what they would like to be remembered for in each of those roles. To help with this, I ask them to pick a person for each role who would be the best at judging their abilities and actions in that role. They are then to imagine what that person might say about them now as well as what they would want that person to say about them at some point in the future.
I also ask them to research what it might take to achieve their goals. If its a certain type of career, they should find out what is required to enter and succeed in that career. If they want people to treat them a certain way, they should find people who are treated that way and discover what they did to get to that position. The goal is not to simply blindly follow in those steps, but to have a stronger idea of how to become the person they want to be.
My plan is to have my seniors use this as the opening page of their senior portfolio.