Reimagine Your Career in 2025

Reimagine Your Career in 2025

• 1. Reimagine Your Career 2025 Reflection Exercises Christine Perfetti

• 2. Reimagine Your Career in 2025 Welcome to the start of 2025! I designed this guide as a complement to my six-week Reimagine Your Career course and peer group Connection Councils program. I have provided exercises, templates, and reflection prompts to help you to begin your journey of envisioning and designing your next chapter. I hope you use this guide to reflect on your strengths and values, and create actionable next steps for achieving your career and life goals. Enjoy, Christine Perfetti Christine Perfetti CEO, Lift Up Connections

• 3. EXERCISE 1 Career Mapping: Conducting an Inventory Purpose: Look back on your career journey to identify areas of expertise, skills, and passions to uncover recurring patterns or themes. By looking back on your career journey, it can provide clarity on the skills, talents and expertise you may be overlooking and reveal the patterns of what works best and what can be improved in your career and life. Instructions: 1. Write down the names of the companies and organizations you have worked for across your entire career. Include significant personal milestones, such as starting a business or taking a career break. 2. For each job role, consider and write down the following: ○ What did you love about this role? What are two things that went well? ○ What didn’t work for you? What are two things that could have been better? ○ What skills and talents did you learn, grow, or refine during this career stage? Reflections: ● Are there patterns in the roles, responsibilities, and activities that you enjoyed the most? ● What skills and talents were you best at? ● What lit you up about the work? What lit your colleagues up about your work? 2

• 4. Career Map Template For each job role, map out the activities and responsibilities that energized and depleted you? Do you see patterns across the roles? 3

• 5. EXERCISE 2 Journaling and Experience Sampling Purpose: Deepen self-awareness and identify patterns in your daily work and life experiences. The act of observing your daily work provides insight into what energizes or drains you. “Keep a careful record of what you did each day and how you felt about it. This is what the Experience Sampling Method accomplishes. It is possible, after a week, to have a good idea of how you spend your time and how you feel about various activities.” - Mihaly Czikszentmihali, “Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention” (2013) Instructions: 1. For two weeks, keep a journal or use a notes app to log daily work and life activities. ○ List of major daily activities and experiences 2. At the end of each day, reflect on: ○ What was the most energizing part of your day? What engaged you? What filled your cup? When was time flying by? ○ What was the most draining part? What sucked your energy? 4

• 6. 3. After two weeks: ○ Review your entries for patterns ○ Use these patterns to revisit and refine your Career Mapping insights and takeaways from Exercise 1 on page 2 Reflections: ● What trends do you notice in your energy levels across different activities? ● How do these observations align or misalign with your current career path? ● What adjustments could you make to prioritize more energizing activities? 5

• 7. EXERCISE 3 The Listening Tour Purpose: Gain new perspectives of your strengths and areas for growth by scheduling conversations with people who know you well and have helped you at specific stages in your career, By hearing from people who know you and have worked with you before, it shines a light on strengths and skills you may have forgotten or overlooked. Instructions: 1. Identify 2-3 people you trust and feel safe with and would expect honestly and candor, such as mentors, colleagues, and friends 2. Reach out to connect with them. Say: "I’m reflecting on my career and deciding on next steps as I move forward. I would value your insights and would love 30 minutes of your time.” 3. In the conversation, ask: ○ What did you perceive as my biggest strengths? ○ Where was I most effective? ○ In what areas did I have the greatest impact? ○ What could I have done better? In what ways could I have been more effective? 4. Share your assessment from Exercise 1: The Career Mapping Exercise ○ Are there any of the skills and peak experiences that resonated based on your experience working with me? ○ What skills and talents did I miss? 6

• 8. Reflection Prompts: ● What feedback surprised you the most during your conversations? ● What recurring themes or insights emerged from the feedback? ● How might you act on the insights you’ve gained? 7

• 9. EXERCISE 4 Core Values Assessment Purpose: Clarify your guiding values, principles and priorities. Your values act as a compass—when you know them, you can better navigate decisions and align your life." Instructions: 1. Begin with a list of 125 core values 2. Circle the 15 that resonate most strongly 3. Narrow down to your top 5 Reflection Prompts: ● How well does your current work and life align with your core values? ● How do these values show up in your life and work? How do they guide your decisions? ● What changes could you make to better align with your values? ● How might your values guide your future career and life decisions? 8

• 10. Core Values List Accountability Adaptability Achievement Adventure Altruism Ambition Authenticity Authority Autonomy Balance Beauty Being the best Belonging Boldness Caring Collaboration Challenge Citizenship Commitment Community Compassion Competence Confidence Connection Contentment Contribution Cooperation Courage Creativity Curiosity Determination Dignity Diversity Environment Efficiency Equality Ethics Excellence Fairness Faith Fame Family Financial stability Forgiveness Freedom Friendships Fun Generosity Grace Gratitude Growth Harmony Happiness Health Home Honesty Hope Humility Humor Inclusion Independence Initiative Influence Inner harmony Job security Joy Justice Kindness Knowledge Leadership Learning Legacy Leisure Love Loyalty Meaningful work Nature Openness Optimism Order Parenting Patience Patriotism Peace Perseverence Pleasure Poise Popularity Power Pride Recognition Reliability Religion Reputation Resourcefulness Respect Responsibility Risk-taking Safety Security Self-discipline Self-expression Self-respect Service Simplicity Spirituality Sportsmanship Stability Stewardship Success Status Teamwork Time Tradition Trustworthiness Truth Understanding Uniqueness Vision Vulnerability Wealth Well-being Wholeheartedness Wisdom Note: The majority of the values from this list were compiled from James Clear’s core values list and Brené Brown’s core values list from her excellent book, “Dare to Lead.” 9

• 11. EXERCISE 5 The Vision Collage: Designing Your Next Chapter Purpose: Imagine two possible future paths for your career and life Instructions: 1. Envision "The Amazing Life You’ve Already Planned" ○ Visualize continuing on your current career trajectory ○ Where are you in five years? 2. Envision "The Wildly Audacious Life" ○ Reflect on your biggest, boldest dreams. If success was guaranteed, what would you pursue? 3. Create a vision collage: ○ Use magazines, digital tools, or drawings to depict the feelings associated with both of the paths ○ Compare: What insights and feelings come up when exploring these two paths side by side? 10

• 12. Examples of Vision Collages 11

• 13. EXERCISE 6 The Visioning Narrative: Tell the Story of Your Two Future Lives Purpose: Imagine two possible future paths for your career and life Instructions: 1. Envision "The Great Life You’ve Already Planned": ○ Picture continuing on your current career trajectory. Where are you in five years? ○ Write a narrative for a "day in the life" in this vision, focusing on your work, environment, and relationships. 2. Envision "The Wildly Audacious Life": ○ Reflect on your biggest, boldest dreams. If success was guaranteed, what would you pursue? ○ Write a narrative for a "day in the life" in this vision, focusing on your work, environment, and relationships. Reflection Prompts: ● What excites you most about each vision you created? ● What fears or hesitations arise when considering the "Wildly Audacious Life"? ● What steps could you take today to move closer to achieving the vision? 12

• 14. Visioning Template 13

• 15. EXERCISE 7 Ideating Opportunities and Prioritizing Solutions Purpose: Map out actions and prioritize solutions aligned with your vision It’s not about being right or wrong—it’s about exploring all possible paths to your vision. Instructions: 1. Choose one of your career visions 2. Brainstorm all actions and solutions needed to achieve this vision using sticky notes or a digital tool, such as Mural ○ Focus on quantity over quality 3. Group similar solutions together and name the groups 4. Rank the opportunities by prioritizing based on several different criteria: ○ Align with your core values ○ Identify low-hanging fruit ○ Rank based on excitement Reflection Prompts: ● Which opportunities excite you most? ● How does each solution align with your values? ● What is one small action you can take today to test a solution? 14

• 16. EXERCISE 8 Relationship Mapping Purpose: Identify and connect with people who can support your journey Your network is your support system. Invest in it to grow your career. Instructions: 1. List your current network of colleagues, mentors, and friends. 2. Identify gaps: Who else could support you? What types of connections do you need? 3. Create a plan for growing your relationships (example: scheduling regular check-ins) 4. Use a structured approach to reconnect with past colleagues or mentors who might offer valuable insights or opportunities. Reflection Prompts: ● Who in your network has been most supportive in your career? ● What gaps do you notice in your network, and how might you fill them? ● How can you strengthen your relationships with key connections? 15

• 17. EXERCISE 9 Reframing Limiting Beliefs Exercise from: Worthy: How to Believe You Are Enough and Transform Your Life by Jamie Kern Lima (2025) Purpose: Articulate and reframe disempowering narratives or labels that have shaped your actions and mindset. By writing down, articulating, and reframing these beliefs, you can begin to remove the barriers holding you back. Instructions: 1. Identify Limiting Beliefs: ○ Consider narratives or labels that frequently come up when you think about yourself ○ Write down any beliefs or labels that stem from your upbringing or life experiences 2. Explore the Impact: ○ In the second column of your worksheet, note how these beliefs or labels have shaped your actions, mindset, and life 3. Reframe the Belief: ○ In the third column, rewrite each belief or label in a way that is empowering and more aligned with your current self ○ For example, reframe "I’m not good enough to lead" to "I bring unique skills and perspectives to leadership." Reflection Prompts: ● What patterns emerged as you reflected on your limiting beliefs? ● How do the reframed beliefs align with your goals and aspirations? ● What small steps can you take to act in alignment with your new beliefs? 16

• 18. Reframe Your Narratives Disempowering Label What did believing this label cost me? What impact has it had on my life? Reframe: What is my new empowering Replacement Label? Worthy: How to Believe You Are Enough and Transform Your Life by Jamie Kern Lima (2025) 17

• 19. EXERCISE 10 Immunity to Change Exercise from: Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey Purpose: Identify hidden beliefs and competing commitments holding you back Instructions: 1. State your commitment or goal 2. Write down what you are currently doing or not doing that conflicts with achieving this goal 3. Explore potential fears or hidden commitments that might be driving these behaviors 4. Reflect on how these fears are impacting your progress and develop strategies to address them Reflection Prompts: ● What hidden fears or competing commitments resonate most with you? ● How are these fears holding you back from achieving your goals? ● What small steps can you take to start addressing these barriers? 18

• 20. Immunity to Change Worksheet Commitment (pilot goals) What am I doing or not doing instead to prevent me from achieving the goal? Hidden competing commitments: How are those commitments preventing me from taking action? What are the assumptions driving my competing commitments? Lean experiments: How can I test assumptions in small chunks? 19

• 21. RECOMMENDED READINGS The Career and Life Visioning approaches in this guide are inspired by Christine Perfetti’s discovery, design, and product visioning methods and the following resources: ● Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live by Martha Beck ● Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown ● Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans ● Get Untamed: The Journal by Glennon Doyle ● The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks ● Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization (Leadership for the Common Good by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey ● The Leader’s Journey: Transforming Your Leadership to Achieve the Extraordinary by Donna Lichaw ● Worthy: How to Believe You are Enough and Transform Your Life by Jamie Kern Lima ● So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work Your Love by Cal Newport ● I Could Do Anything if Only I Knew What it Was by Barbara Sher and Barbara Smith ● Never Search Alone by Phyl Terry 20

• 22. CONGRATULATIONS! Congratulations on taking this step toward reimagining your career! Remember, this journey is personal, iterative, and unique to you. Take your time, trust the process, and know that each exercise brings you closer to the fulfilling career you deserve. Best of luck! Christine 21

• 23. OUR NEXT COHORT STARTS ON FEBRUARY 11, 2025 liftupconnections.com 22