Part 10 (2/2)

”I am a person who ... has had these experiences.”

”I am a person who ... is skilled at doing this or that.”

”I am a person who ... knows a lot about this or that.”

”I am a person who ... is unusual in this way or that.”

Before you answer this question with others, you have to first answer it in your own head. You are a person, not a role. Throughout this self-inventory, you need to keep identifying what kind of person you are, under several headings.

I Am a Person Who ...

Is Like a Flower

Researchers1 tell us that if you are trying to make a decision about yourself and your future, there are Three Rules about where you jot stuff down: 1. GATHER. Put everything you know about yourself on one piece of paper.

2. ORGANIZE. Put some kind of graphic on that piece of paper, in order to organize the information about yourself. A graphic-any graphic-keeps that One Piece of Paper interesting, and not just a flood of words and s.p.a.ces. It also activates the right side of your brain, the intuitive side, that looks at a whole bunch of unrelated data and says, ”Aha! I see what it all means.”

3. PRIORITIZE. Prioritize all this information, when you have finished organizing it. Don't just leave the data lying there; put it in its order of importance to you. Always. And every time.

So here you have it, on the next page: an outline-a practice outline- of the graphic you are going to fill in when you're done with all the exercises and get to the larger version.

We call the graphic The Flower Diagram, or The Flower Exercise.

A Preliminary Outline of The Flower (A Note Page for Jotting Down Your Idle Thoughts and Hunches3) To download a printable PDF of this image, please visit rhlink.com/para14007

I Am a Person Who ...

Has Seven Sides to Me

This flower representation of You has seven petals (including the center) because there are seven sides to You, or seven ways of thinking about yourself.

7 Ways of Describing Who You Are 1. You can describe who you are in terms of what you know-and what your favorite knowledges or fields of interest are, that you have stored in your head (or heart).

2. Or you can describe who you are in terms of the kinds of people you most prefer to work with, and/or the kinds of people-age span, problems, handicaps, geographical location, etc.-you would most like to help or serve.

3. Or you can describe who you are in terms of what you can do, and what your favorite functional/transferable skills are.

4. Or you can describe who you are in terms of your favorite working conditions-indoors/outdoors, small company/large company, tight s.h.i.+p/loose s.h.i.+p,2 windows/no windows, etc.-because they enable you to work at your top form, and greatest effectiveness.

5. Or you can describe who you are in terms of your preferred salary and level of responsibility-working by yourself, or as a member of a team, or supervising others, or running the show-that you feel most fitted for, by experience, temperament, and appet.i.te.

6. Or you can describe who you are in terms of your preferred geographical location-here or abroad, warm/cold, north/south, east/west, mountains/coast, urban/suburban/rural/rustic-where you'd be happiest, do your best work, and would most love to live.

7. Or you can describe who you are in terms of your goals or sense of mission and purpose for your life. Alternatively, or in addition, you can get more particular and describe the goals or mission you want the organization to have, where you decide to work.

I Am a Person Who ...

Is All These Things

You could choose just one, two, or three of these sides of yourself-let us say, ”what you know,” ”what you can do,” and ”preferred salary”-as your guide to defining what kind of work would match You.

But what the Flower Diagram does is describe who you are in all seven ways, joined together on one page, in one graphic. After all, you are not just one of these things; you are all of these things. The Flower Diagram is a complete, not partial, picture of You.

Believe me, you want the complete picture. I'll tell you why. Let's say there is some job out there that matches only one petal, one side to yourself, one way of defining who you are: for example, let's say this job lets you use your favorite knowledges. Period.

It doesn't let you use your favorite skills, nor does it have you working with the kinds of people you most enjoy, nor does it give you the surroundings where you can do your best work.

What would you call such a job? I think boring. You would barely be able to wait for Friday to come around. Thank G.o.d it's Friday! Some of you have already sung that song. A lot.

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