Photo by Emily Rudolph on Unsplash

Early this summer I attended a leadership workshop for my own personal development. The workshop included a lecture from a UBS executive regarding career goals and career changes. She recommended What Color is your parachute as a mandatory reading for all business students and I stored the name in my notes excitedly, but eventually forgot about it, it was added to my not so urgent list and all the excitement slowly faded away

Fast forward to two months later, I am signing up for a new course for the fall semester and after debating between a weekend and weekday course I decided on the weekend since that would not interrupt my weekly work schedule. The Professor emailed us the course syllabus to get us prepped and ready, “let me start by ordering my books in advance” I thought. The first line was the name of the course and professor, the second line was entitled required reading - What Color is Your Parachute. I immediately started laughing to myself, this book was definitely following me and this time, it had me cornered.

Richard Bolles attend Harvard where he studied physics, he was a minister and career counselor, his experiences lead to him writing What Color is Your Parachute .This book has been re-released every year with updated information related to finding the right career however, the core of the book remains extremely relevant and consistent.

My favorite part of this reading is the idea of self evaluation; you have to start with yourself, then search for a career that you love, not just one that you can do. I don’t quiet remember who this quote is from, but it definitely applies to this book - “choose a  job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” If you are at a crossroads in life where you are unfulfilled and looking for a change in direction regarding your career this is the book for you.

Happy reading~