Interests

Workbook

Where talent,
interest and
motivation
intersect expect a
masterpiece.
John Ruskin, Painter

Overview
By identifying areas of interest or occupations that inspire you, you can create an
awareness of a wider variety of possible career paths, opportunities and
organisations that you would like to work for. Many people dont know what they are
interested in; this is particularly the case if they are feeling depressed by their
current work situation. In addition, even when they do know what interests them
they may not have considered the important role of interests and areas of passion
when it comes to making career choices that will stand the test of time.

Objectives
This workbook and the exercises that follow is designed to assist you:

To identify broad areas of interest and prioritise against passion

To brainstorm a variety of jobs / career paths which may be related to your

areas of interest

To apply learning from interests identification to your career decision and

work / life balance

Worklife Solutions Ltd 2007

Interests Workbook

Finding Your Passion Interests Exercise

Part 1: Identifying areas of interest
Passion goes in all directions. It can be as tangible as a job, or car, or a house, or as
intangible as a dream or an idea. You could be passionate about anything.
List all the things that interest and inspire you - notice the books you read or the
magazines you tend to buy. Think about the times when you notice clues to your
passion such as a surge of energy or a sense of losing track of time. You may find
the suggestions over the page helpful. Circle anything in this list that captures your
interest and imagination. Narrow your areas of interest where you can. For example,
is you have circled a cause identify some possible causes. Feel free to add any
interests that may be missing.

Part 2: Identifying career options

Using the list that you have generated:
1. Highlight the ones that you feel most passionate about
2. Using your top 5 interests, list or brainstorm as many ways to make money or
possible career options as you can
3. Highlight the career options you are most interested in

Part 3: Researching and reality testing career options

Using the list of career options that you have generated, identify ways you could find
out more information about them

Remember! The aim is to build an exhaustive list of possible ways people make a

living from things that interest you. We are not asking you to commit to anything,
just to be open to possible choices and ideas. Dont discount anything or dismiss
ideas prematurely. Encourage friends and family members to contribute suggestions
so that you leave no idea unturned.

Example:

Mary was interested in books and movies. She brainstormed all the ways
people could and do make a living while working in these areas. Her list
included: movie director, stage designer, script-writer, make-up artist, book
critic, photographer, illustrator, marketing/pr person, etc. Her friends added
several other ideas, including editor, sound person, and costume designer.
Mary highlighted writer of childrens books, illustrator and photographer as
possible career options she would like to look into further. She found that a
good place to start was www.kiwicareers.govt.nz which has in-depth profiles
of most roles. However, nothing beat informational interviewing talking to
people doing the job she wanted.

Worklife Solutions Ltd 2007

Interests Workbook

Part 1: Identifying areas of interest

Summary of things that interest me (refer to page 8 if you need some help getting
started):
__________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Part 2: Identifying career options

1.) My top 5 interests:
1.__________________________________________________________________
2.__________________________________________________________________
3.__________________________________________________________________
4.__________________________________________________________________
5.__________________________________________________________________

Brainstorm and list all possible careers where people make money from the interests
you have identified. Summarise these on the pages which follow.

Remember, the aim is to build an exhaustive list of possible ways people make a
living from things that interest you. We are not asking you to commit to anything,
just to be open to possible choices and ideas. Dont discount anything or dismiss
ideas prematurely. Encourage friends and family members to contribute suggestions
so that you leave no idea unturned.

Worklife Solutions Ltd 2007

Interests Workbook

Part 2: Identifying career options (cont)

2.) Possible career options:
Interest1.____________________________________________
Possible career options:

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Interest 2.____________________________________________
Possible career options:

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Worklife Solutions Ltd 2007

Interests Workbook

Interest 3.____________________________________________
Possible career options:

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Interest 4.____________________________________________
Possible career options:

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Interest 5.____________________________________________
Possible career options:

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Worklife Solutions Ltd 2007

Interests Workbook

Part 3: Researching and reality testing career options

Summary of career options that most interest me:
__________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

Ways I could find out more about these options:

__________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Worklife Solutions Ltd 2007

Interests Workbook

Possible Areas of Interest:

A Cause
A Belief
A rock star/band
A movie star
Acting
An Idea
Analysing things
Astrology
Becoming something
Books
Cars
Cats
Changing
Children
Clothes
Collecting things
Colour
Computers
Cooking
Creating something
Dancing
Detail
Design
Dogs
Entertaining others
Equality
Fabric and Textiles
Family
Films
Fishing
Food
Gardening
Graphic Design
Health and Well-being
Helping others
Hobby
Horses
Human Behaviour
Human Rights

Hunting
Innovation
Job
Justice
Languages
Make-up
Making furniture
Making money
Music
Other cultures
Organising things
Physical fitness
Problems
Reading
Researching
Rugby
Science
Shoes
Singing
Spiders
Systems
Technology
The environment
The future
The media
The past
Travel
Truth
Painting
People
Problem-solving
Public speaking
Personal development
Simplicity
Sport
World Peace
Writing
Visual Communication
War tactics

Think of your own interests to add to the

list

Worklife Solutions Ltd 2007

Interests Workbook