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The Reflected Best Self Exercise (RBSE) is a research-backed personal development tool developed at the University of Michigan's Center for Positive Organizations. It has helped thousands of people discover new potential and activate it more powerfully in their lives.

The RBSE enables you to gain insights into how your unique strengths have positively affected others, detect patterns in your strengths, and see your most influential qualities — what we call your "impact strengths" — more clearly and accurately.

Unlike most feedback tools, the RBSE doesn't include negative feedback and isn't limited to self-assessment. Instead, it invites people from all parts of your life to share stories of moments when they've seen you at your best. These stories are compiled into a Best Self Report that you can download, reflect on, and use as a foundation for personal and professional growth.

To get started with the RBSE as an individual:

1. Visit the Sign Up page.
2. Fill in your name, email address, and set your story window close date (the deadline by which your storytellers should submit their stories).
3. Complete your purchase through our secure Stripe checkout.
4. After checkout, your exercise is created and you'll receive an email invitation to get started.
5. Click the link in your email to begin onboarding.

Once onboarding is complete, you'll land on your Participant Dashboard where you can start inviting storytellers right away.

If you're using the RBSE for a class, you can sign up at a discounted student rate:

1. Visit the Student Sign Up page.
2. Fill in your name, email, college name, professor name, and your story window close date.
3. Complete your purchase through our secure Stripe checkout.
4. Your signup is recorded and your exercise will be set up. You'll receive an email when your exercise is ready to begin.

If you accidentally purchased the standard individual version instead of the student version, don't worry — you don't need to make another purchase. Contact us through the Support page with your name, email, purchase date, school name, professor name, and enrolled class. Once we confirm your details, we'll issue a refund for the difference between the standard and student rates. Please allow 5–10 business days for the refund to appear on your statement.

When you first accept your invitation to participate in the RBSE, you'll go through a brief onboarding experience:

1. Welcome page — You'll learn what the RBSE is and how it works, including what to expect throughout the process.
2. What to expect — You'll see a checklist of the key steps: inviting storytellers, collecting stories, writing your own self-authored stories, and receiving your story compilation.
3. Get started — Click "Let's Start" to complete onboarding and land on your Participant Dashboard.

From your dashboard, you'll be able to invite storytellers, track their progress, write your own self-authored stories, and — once the story window closes — read and download your Best Self Report.

You can manage your storytellers directly from the Invite tab on your Participant Dashboard:

To add a storyteller:

1. Go to your Dashboard and click into your exercise.
2. On the Invite tab, use the storyteller table to add a new storyteller by entering their name and either their email address or phone number.
3. Choose the invitation method (email or SMS).
4. The invitation will be sent automatically once you add them.

To edit a storyteller:

• You can update a storyteller's name or contact information directly in the storyteller table. After editing, resend their invitation so it goes to the correct address.

To remove a storyteller:

• Click the remove option next to the storyteller's name in the table. This will remove them from your exercise.

We recommend inviting at least 20 storytellers. Here's why:

• Aim for 10+ responses. We find that 10 or more stories give you enough content for a rich and meaningful analysis of your strengths.
• Expect about a 55% response rate. On average, about half of the people you invite will end up submitting stories. Inviting 20 gives you a strong chance of receiving at least 10 responses.
• Your community is wider than you think. Consider inviting people from all parts of your life — friends, family, current and former coworkers, managers, mentors, people from community groups, religious organizations, or volunteer work.
• People enjoy doing this. Research shows that writing about someone at their best has a positive impact on the storyteller, too. You're not imposing — you're giving people a meaningful experience.

You can track how many storytellers you've invited and how many have responded from the Invite tab on your dashboard. If you're having trouble reaching 20, try following up personally — a direct message from you can make a big difference.

Yes! When adding a storyteller, you can choose to send their invitation via email or SMS text message.

Note: SMS invitations are currently only available for US and Canadian phone numbers (+1 country code).

To invite by SMS:

1. Enter the storyteller's name and US phone number (instead of email) in the storyteller table.
2. Select SMS as the invitation method.
3. The storyteller will receive a text message with a link to write and submit their stories.

SMS invitations can be especially useful for storytellers who may not check email frequently, or whose company email filters might block automated messages. For storytellers outside the US, use email invitations instead.

Because our invitation messages are automatically generated, they can sometimes be caught by spam filters — especially corporate email servers. Here are a few things to try:

1. Ask your storyteller to check their spam or junk folder. The email comes from our RBSE system and may have been filtered automatically.
2. Try a different email address. Personal email accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook) tend to have fewer deliverability issues than corporate email. You can edit their email address in your storyteller table and resend the invitation.
3. Resend the invitation. From your storyteller table on the Invite tab, click the resend option next to the storyteller's name. Sending a single invitation (rather than bulk) often helps delivery.
4. Switch to SMS (US numbers only). If email isn't working and the storyteller has a US phone number, try removing the storyteller and re-adding them with their phone number instead. SMS invitations bypass email filters entirely.
5. Contact support. If none of the above works, reach out to us through the Support page and we'll help you get the invitation delivered.

The story window is the period of time during which your storytellers can write and submit their stories. It begins when your exercise launches and ends on the "complete by" date shown on your dashboard.

• For individual purchasers: Your story window is set when you sign up. You choose the close date during the signup process.
• For students and program participants: Your story window close date is set by your professor, facilitator, or program coordinator.

After the story window closes, there is a 7-day grace period during which storytellers can still edit and resubmit stories they've already started. After the grace period, the exercise is fully closed.

It depends on your exercise type:

• Individual exercises: If you purchased the RBSE yourself (or a coach purchased it for you individually), you can request early access to your stories. From your Participant Dashboard, use the early access option to unlock your stories before the story window closes. Once you enable early access, your Best Self Report becomes available immediately with whatever stories have been submitted so far.

• Program or class exercises: If you received your RBSE invitation as part of a class or professional development program, you won't be able to access your stories until the date your professor or facilitator has set for the group. Early access is not available for group exercises.

Your stories become available after the story window closes. You can view them on the Stories tab of your Participant Dashboard.

• For individual exercises: Stories are available once the story window close date passes, or immediately if you've enabled early access.
• For program exercises: Stories become available on the date set by your professor or facilitator.

You can see your story window close date on your dashboard at any time.

When a participant invites you to be a storyteller, you'll receive an invitation via email or SMS text message (SMS is available for US phone numbers only).

The invitation contains a link that takes you to the RBSE platform. Here's what happens:

1. Click the link in your email or text message.
2. Verify your identity — You'll be asked to confirm your identity using a one-time passcode sent to your email or phone.
3. Accept the invitation — You can choose to accept or decline. If you accept, you'll be taken directly to the story writing page.

If more than one participant sends an invitation to the same email address or number, you'll see each one on your dashboard.

If participants use different email addresses to send you an invitation, you'll need to log in using each address to see all your invitations.

Once you've accepted an invitation, you'll be taken to the storyteller portal where you can write your stories:

1. Write your story — You'll see a writing area with helpful prompts and tips. Think of a specific moment when you saw the participant at their best.
2. Save as a draft — You can save your work at any time and come back to it later.
3. Submit when ready — Click submit to finalize your story. Once submitted, the participant will be able to read it after their story window closes.
4. Add more stories — You can submit up to 3 stories per participant. Click "Add Another Story" to write additional stories.

Tips for great stories:

• Focus on a specific moment — a time that stands out in your memory.
• Include details: what happened, what they did, how it affected you or others, and why it mattered.
• You don't need to be formal or poetic — just clear and heartfelt.
• One richly-detailed story is better than three general statements.

You can edit and resubmit your stories until the story window closes, plus an additional 7-day grace period.

The storyteller instructions are built right into the storytelling experience. When you open your invitation link and navigate to the story writing page, you'll see:

• Getting Started guidance explaining what the RBSE is and what makes a great story.
• Writing Tips — expandable tips for crafting your story.
• What Makes a Great Story? — guidance on focusing on a single moment with real, lived details.
• Why Focus on the Best? — context about the research behind strengths-based reflection.

All of this is available directly on the story submission page — you don't need to find a separate instructions document.

In summary: Think of a time when you saw the person at their very best. What happened? What did they do? How did they affect others? Share that story honestly and with detail. One meaningful story is more valuable than several vague ones. You can submit up to 3 stories, and your stories will only be seen by the participant — they are not anonymous and will be associated with your name.

There is a 7-day grace period after the story window closes during which you can still edit and resubmit stories.

• If you had already started writing or saved a draft, you can complete and submit it during the grace period.
• If the grace period has also passed and you still want to contribute, contact us through the Support page. We may be able to manually add your story depending on the exercise status.

Our full Terms of Service and Privacy Policy is available on the RBSE website. Here are the key points:

We will never sell your data. The RBSE is a confidential educational experience. There is absolutely no marketing use of the materials submitted to this site. We will never sell your data (name, email, phone number, content submitted) and we will not use your contact information to market our services without your express permission.

Who can see your data? Your data is available only to three sources:

1. The person writing the stories.
2. The person receiving the stories in a Best Self Report.
3. Technical operations personnel who may need to interact with your data if there is an issue with the website or database.

Collection of contact information: When participants invite storytellers, they enter contact information (email or phone number). This information is used solely to send invitations, support account verification, and deliver service-related reminders. It is never used for marketing.

You own your data. You can delete your data at any time from within the application, or by contacting us. See the data deletion FAQ below for details.

Automatic data deletion. All data related to an exercise — including participant information, stories, reports, and invitee contact details — is automatically deleted 90 days after the exercise concludes.

The RBSE supports both self-service and assisted data deletion:

Self-service deletion: You can delete your data directly from within the RBSE application. This will remove all your information from our database, including your name, email address, phone number, login information, participation information, and any data submitted by you or for you.

What to know before deleting:

• If you are a participant: You will no longer be able to access your Best Self Report after deletion. Please download a final copy of your report before requesting deletion.
• If you are a storyteller: All stories you submitted will be removed. Participants who download their Best Self Report after your deletion will no longer see your stories.

Assisted deletion: If you need help or have questions about the deletion process, contact us through the Support page with the subject "RBSE Data Deletion."

Automatic deletion: All exercise data is automatically deleted 90 days after the exercise concludes, regardless of whether a manual deletion request is made.