Book coming in the
second half of 2026
Eight factors that explain why some work suits you and some work slowly kills you
Why I wrote this
I’m not an academic, I’m a very ordinary person who has spent more than a decade working with other ordinary people, who have been trying to figure out what to do with what they’ve got.
I kept seeing the same thing. Capable people making career decisions based on incomplete information.
The frameworks that explained what I could see in my clients already existed in isolation, but nobody had thought to connect them, to give people a more complete picture.
So I did.
What this book is about
Some people spend years in work that slowly drains them, without ever quite understanding why. Others look back at a path that found them – a job, a vocation, a way of working – and wonder how they ended up somewhere that fits so well.
Both questions have the same answer.
The Complete Picture is a framework built on eight factors from established psychology that explains not just what work suits you – but why you are the way you are. The kind of smart you are, what genuinely engages you and how you naturally operate. Where you started from, what you believe is possible and what’s been quietly shaping your choices all along, whether you knew it or not.
This isn’t a book about getting a better job, it’s about understanding yourself clearly enough to make sense of where you’ve been – and to choose, with eyes open, where you’re going next.
Not who you should be, but who you actually are.
Who this book is for
The Complete Picture was written for two kinds of people.
The first is the young person who has found school a struggle – not because they aren’t capable, but because the version of intelligence that school measures most consistently isn’t the version they happen to have. Sandy’s husband, a tradesman who was the first to read the manuscript, put it simply: “Every Year 12 student should be made to read this – I wish I had.” That’s the vision – a framework that finds its way into schools and gives students who might otherwise leave without a clear sense of what they’re built for, a logical and honest way of finding out.
The second is the adult who is self-aware enough to ask hard questions. The systems analyst whose industry is shifting around her and who needs to know what she can take with her. The person who has spent twenty years being good at something and is quietly wondering whether there’s something better. The career changer who doesn’t want a quiz that spits out a job title – they want to understand themselves clearly enough to make a genuine decision.
This isn’t a corporate tool, and it isn’t passive self-help, it’s a structured framework that rewards honest engagement. The people who get the most from it are the ones willing to sit with uncomfortable questions long enough to find useful answers.
Coming soon
Following successful beta testing, The Complete Picture will shortly be available as a structured school program for Years 10-12, and as a self-paced self-study version for adults. Join the waitlist below to be notified when both become available.
What’s in the book
The Complete Picture draws on eight widely accepted frameworks from psychology and behavioural science, connected for the first time into a single practical tool:
- Intelligence Type – Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
- Intelligence Style – Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
- Interests – John Holland’s Theory of Career Choice
- Personality – Big Five Personality Traits
- Family – drawing on Bruce Hood’s The Self Illusion
- Attitudes – Angela Duckworth’s Grit and Carol Dweck’s Mindset
- Habits – James Clear’s Atomic Habits
- Critical Thinking – drawing on Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational
About the author
Sandy Taylor is a Career Counsellor and Vocational Coach based in the Perth Hills, Western Australia. She has spent more than a decade working directly with people trying to figure out what to do with what they’ve got – freelancers, consultants, career changers, and school leavers who needed help making sense of their capabilities, their circumstances, and what might be possible for them.
The Complete Picture grew out of her frustration that the psychological frameworks explaining why people end up in the wrong careers already existed in academia, but nobody had connected them into a single practical tool, accessible enough for ordinary people to apply to their own situation. After years of reading widely across psychology and behavioural science, and finding no existing framework that did what she needed, she built one herself.
The Complete Picture is her first book.
Get notified when the book launches
The Complete Picture is currently in development and scheduled for release in the second half of 2026.
Join the waitlist to:
- Get notified when the book launches
- Receive early chapters and excerpts as they’re completed
- Get updates on publishing timeline
- Be eligible for early reader/reviewer opportunities
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