The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

ACTIVITY 1: “Imagine the Four Agreements in Action”

In this activity, students will review a passage from the text that invites them to imagine what their lives might be like using the Four Agreements and apply that imagination to developing a plan of action.

In Chapter 7, Ruiz invites the reader to imagine:

Imagine living your life without the fear of being judged by others. You no longer rule your behavior according to what others may think about you. You are no longer responsible for anyone’s opinion. You have no need to control anyone, and no one controls you either.

Imagine living your life without judging others […].

Reflect on this passage, taking time to really imagine: What would that life be like for you?

• What agreements would you need to break up with in order to live such a life?
• What new agreements would you need to make?
• If you were adopting the Four Agreements, what would you need to try your best at every day?

After you have considered the points above, write a journal entry that answers the questions.

Teaching Suggestion: The purpose of this activity is to provide students with a deeper understanding of the Agreements by relating them to their daily lives. You might suggest students revisit the “Three Questions” video from the Oprah Winfrey Show to consider how a fear of judgment can extend to many aspects of one’s life.

ACTIVITY 2 “The Four Agreements in Fiction”

In this activity, students will apply their knowledge of The Four Agreements to an analysis of a fictional character or plot line of their choice.

In fiction writing, misunderstandings, internal conflicts, and assumptions are often the catalysts for character and plot development. Without these conflicts, narrative tales might be boring. Choose a fictional character that you know really well. Analyze how domestication plays into their lives and discuss how adopting the Four Agreements might have helped the character or prevented the central conflict of their story.

Teaching Suggestion: The purpose of this activity is to provide students with an engaging and creative way to demonstrate an understanding of The Four Agreements. You might consider developing a rubric to use this activity as an assessment.

Differentiation Suggestion: For advanced learners, teachers might challenge students to apply this question to a historical figure.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. One of the central ideas in Ruiz’s text is that the Four Agreements help to undo human domestication, which leads to a more fulfilling life.

• Explain human domestication. How do the Four Agreements help to undo it? (topic sentence)
• Select one agreement in particular and explain how it works to undo typical human domestication. Support your argument with multiple examples from your own life, the life of someone you know, or even fictional stories you’ve heard or read recently.
• In your concluding sentences, discuss how you view domestication in your own life an whether or not you think implementing The Four Agreements would help.

2. Millions of people have read The Four Agreements and feel profoundly connected to it on a personal level, sometimes choosing a favorite agreement and other times singling out one that presents the most difficulty.

• To which of The Four Agreements do you feel most connected? (topic sentence)
• Discuss how you see this agreement as particularly helpful or challenging. Explain a particular situation where honoring the agreement has helped you or could have helped you in the past.
• In your concluding sentences, explain how the agreement you selected could have a ripple effect if more people honored it more seriously.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. This title is highly popular, widely sold around the world, which indicates something about the author’s writing and message. Analyze Ruiz’s writing style. How does he use language to connect to the reader? Does his writing style properly convey his message? Why or why not? 

2. The ideas presented in The Four Agreements are deeply interconnected. Explain how Always Do Your Best connects to the other three agreements. How does it help to combat domestication?

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the Four Agreements would most help someone who constantly worries about what others think?

A) Be impeccable with your word.

B) Don’t take anything personally.

C) Don’t make assumptions.

D) Always do your best.

2. Which of these most closely aligns with Ruiz’s concept of heaven?

A) Living with intention, and free of fear of others

B) Feeling afraid, and doing difficult things anyway

C) Trusting the people around you, implicitly and exclusively

D) Living with clouds, angels, and trumpets

3. According to Ruiz, what keeps us from living a life of joy and fulfillment?

A) Poor choices with regard to health and safety

B) Refusing to trust and believe in a higher power

C) Fighting to be right in every situation

D) Fear-based agreements and belief

4. Which of the Four Agreements would most help someone who deceives their loved ones?

A) Be impeccable with your word.

B) Don’t take anything personally.

C) Don’t make assumptions.

D) Always do your best.

5. Which point of view does Ruiz employ throughout the text to engage the reader?

A) First person

B) Second person

C) Third person

D) Third person omniscient

6. Which of the Four Agreements would most help a person in the face of personal failures?

A) Be impeccable with your word.

B) Don’t take anything personally.

C) Don’t make assumptions.

D) Always do your best.

7. According to Ruiz, which of the following are most important when it comes to integrating the Four Agreements into one’s life?

A) Choice and intention

B) Closure and repetition

C) Action and habits

D) Practice and perfection

8. Which of the Four Agreements would most help a person to accept the benefits of therapy?

A) Be impeccable with your word.

B) Don’t take anything personally.

C) Don’t make assumptions.

D) Always do your best.

9. What is the ultimate goal of adopting the Four Agreements?

A) To create an easy pathway for people to go to heaven after they die.

B) To undo human domestication for a select group of people around the world.

C) For people to go out in the world and influence others to create a new dream.

D) For people to live in a state of unconditional love or perpetual bliss.

10. What is the dream of second attention?

A) It describes a person who begins to pay attention to the agreements they made during domestication and decides to change them.

B) It describes a person who begins to pay attention to the inner Judge and to respect the wisdom of its laws.

C) It describes the dream we live out in our reincarnated lives.

D) It describes the charity we give to others.

11. Which of these most stands in the way of our being able to keep the fourth agreement?

A) The Book of Law

B) The Judge

C) The Bible

D) The Victim

12. Which of the following feeds into a tendency to hold others to one’s belief system?

A) The Book of Law

B) The Judge

C) The Bible

D) The Victim

13. Which of these is what Ruiz considers the worst form of “black magic”?

A) Hatred

B) Gossip

C) Fear

D) Envy

14. What is Ruiz’s definition of “impeccability”?

A) Trusting the divine nature of the Universe, with zero doubts

B) Taking actions that are not in violation of the Self or others

C) Using one’s word against oneself only when necessary

D) Always telling the truth, in every situation, no matter what

15. What is mitote?

A) An Aztec name for The Four Agreements, translated into Spanish

B) Taking a break from everything to become self-aware and reflective

C) An ancient Toltec technique for overcoming the dream of the planet

D) The dream of the planet, a false reality created through domestication

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. How does not taking things personally provide a pathway to inner peace?

2. How do The Four Agreements free humans from Human Domestication?