Introduction

Wouldn’t it be amazing if there were a way to systematize your career decisions, so you can be confident when an opportunity is (or absolutely is not) the right fit for you? With the Flower Petal Rubric, there is!

This workbook is inspired by Richard N. Bolles' comprehensive "What Color Is Your Parachute?" and its renowned Flower Exercise. While this framework will go through a streamlined version for quick decision-making, I highly recommend reading the full book for a deeper exploration of your career path.

This workbook is designed to help you:

  1. Discover your core career priorities through guided self-reflection
  2. Create a personalized system to objectively evaluate for opportunities
  3. Make confident decisions aligned with your unique values and needs

Even if you are not yet ready to evaluate specific opportunities, this is an amazing exercise to complete, to ensure that you are pursuing opportunities aligned with your priorities (so you can put your full weight behind them!) Once you complete this reflection, you can come back to this repeatedly over the course of your career, making adjustments to your priorities as your needs evolve.

Part 1: Self Discovery Through the Flower Exercise

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[Note: You'll want to draw your own flower diagram to capture your insights. Each petal represents a key aspect of your ideal career, forming a complete picture of what you're looking for.]

Petal 1: People Compatibility

The people you work with can make or break your job satisfaction. Let's identify your ideal work relationships.

Your Holland Code helps identify the types of people you work best with: