This article is part of a seven-part series inspired by What Color Is Your Parachute?, Richard Bolles’ classic guide to finding work that fits who you are. In his “Flower Exercise”, each petal represents one element of a fulfilling career: the skills you love using, the people you work best with, the environment that helps you thrive, your values, interests, geography and preferred level of responsibility. You can start anywhere or follow the series as each article stands alone, but together they form a single flower.
The fifth petal of the Flower Exercise invites you to look outward. It focuses on fields of interest: the subjects, causes or industries that capture your curiosity and make you want to learn more.
This petal often evolves throughout life. Many of us choose careers early, based on what we or others think we should be interested in. Over time, the topics that truly hold our attention reveal themselves through what we read, talk about or find ourselves drawn to when we are free to choose.
What kinds of subjects have stayed with you across the years, even as your work has changed?
Following Curiosity
What holds my interest has never been a single subject or sector. It is the process of learning something new, mastering it and then using that understanding to make things work better for others. Once I see how a system fits together, I start to build structure around it. Routine brings order, which then creates space for curiosity. That is when I start to experiment by designing, improving, connecting ideas or people who might not have met otherwise. Each role I have taken has followed this rhythm. The challenge is that once I know it well, it occupies less of my attention, and I start looking for the next area to grow. My interests move where there is room to learn and to make a difference, whether that is with patients, employees, family or community.
When you think about your own work, do you notice a pattern in how your interest rises or fades?
Curiosity Versus Passion
Bolles wrote that curiosity is often a more reliable guide than passion. Passion can burn hot and fade quickly, while curiosity endures. It is the impulse to learn, to understand and to connect ideas. For me, curiosity has been the constant through every stage of work. It keeps me engaged and reminds me that growth begins with interest.
Which parts of your work leave you wanting to understand more instead of moving on quickly?
Letting Interests Evolve
My career has not followed a straight path, nor has it stayed within one industry. It reflects the interplay between personal circumstances and professional opportunity, and it has shown me that my interests do not remain fixed. They shift as I grow. My curiosity draws me towards what I do not yet understand, where there is a challenge to meet or a system to improve. Each time I learn a role and it becomes familiar, I find myself looking forward again. That rhythm is not restlessness but renewal, a way of continuing to learn and stay engaged.
How have your interests shifted over time, and what do those changes reveal about the kind of work that keeps you learning and fulfilled?
Interesting Opportunities
New directions rarely arrive as plans. They tend to appear when I notice a gap or a pattern that does not make sense. Reading widely and speaking to people across different fields often reveals those spaces, the places where something important has been overlooked or where a good idea has stalled. I am drawn to those problems without champions. They invite thinking, structure and momentum. Each time I follow one, it teaches me something new about how change happens and how it can be sustained.
What kind of work keeps generating new questions for you to explore? Which ideas or projects continue to hold your attention even after the initial spark fades?
A Question for Reflection
Make a list of topics or issues that have consistently caught your attention over the last few years. Write down why they interest you and how you might learn more about them. What patterns link them together? What topics do you read about even when you are tired? What kinds of problems draw your attention when you hear about them in the news or at work? When you have free time, what do you research, discuss or create without being asked?
You may discover that what connects your interests is not the subject itself but the motivation behind it. For example, you may be drawn to education, healthcare and human resources because all involve helping people grow.
Petal 5 reminds us that curiosity is rarely random. Our interests often reveal a deeper drive to learn, contribute and make sense of the world. Paying attention to what holds our focus shows us where we are most engaged in our work.
