The Successful Woman Five-Trait Self-Scorecard
Score yourself 1-10 on five observed traits and get a growth stage to work on
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 7
- Confidence
- 88%
The scorecard turns a decade of first-hand observation of high-performing women into five scored behaviours: making your own decisions, giving yourself permission, creating plans and schedules, talking strategy over social, and making time for people of potential rather than only people of power. Each is rated 1-10, with the midpoint deliberately banned so no trait can be parked as 'average'. The five scores are summed for a total between 5 and 50, which maps to four growth stages — seed (under 25), sapling (26-35), rooted (36-45) and Royal Oak (45-50). Each stage carries a different instruction: broad expansion at seed, deliberate discomfort and asking for help at sapling, doubling down on strengths at rooted, and creating opportunity for others at Royal Oak. The output is one prioritised behaviour to change, not a general encouragement.
Origin
Built from Jasmine Star's own pattern-mapping of highly successful women she observed both publicly and in closed rooms, plus interviews on her podcast — deliberately framed as a business version of the magazine quizzes she took in high school.
Core principles
- 01Success is behavioural, not financial — the traits are observable and learnable
- 02A forced choice beats a comfortable middle: no scoring yourself a five
- 03Patterns observed repeatedly across high performers beat one-off advice
- 04Self-diagnosis comes before self-improvement
- 05Your lowest-scoring trait is the cheapest place to buy growth
How to run it
- 1
Score decision-making
Rate 1-10 how often you make your own call rather than handing the decision to someone with more experience.
Pro tip Think about your last three business decisions, not how you like to see yourself.
- 2
Score permission
Rate 1-10 how often you give yourself permission. One means asking permission for everything, ten means never asking.
Pro tip Distinguish asking for support from asking for approval — only the second one costs you points.
- 3
Score plans and schedules
Rate 1-10 how often you turn goals into a written plan and then attach times and dates to it.
Pro tip Score the schedule, not just the plan — an unscheduled plan rarely gets held to.
- 4
Score strategy versus social
Rate 1-10 how you spend time when you gather professionally with other women. One is mostly social, ten is all strategy.
Watch out This is a preference audit, not a verdict — a low score is only a problem if it conflicts with what you say you want.
- 5
Score connection-making
Rate 1-10 how often you connect people across different stages of business, including when there is nothing in it for you.
- 6
Total and stage yourself
Add the five scores. Under 25 is seed, 26-35 sapling, 36-45 rooted, 45-50 Royal Oak.
Pro tip Write the date next to your total so you can re-run the scorecard in a quarter and see movement.
- 7
Apply the stage instruction
Seed grows broadly across all five; sapling attacks the lowest categories through deliberate discomfort; rooted doubles down on the highest; Royal Oak spends the score on other people.
Watch out Do not treat a high total as a finish line — the stages are prescriptions for action, not badges.
In the wild
A coach running a healthy six-figure practice scores nine on making her own decisions and eight on permission, but a four on plans and schedules and a three on connecting people. Her total of 28 puts her in the sapling stage, which points her at her lowest categories rather than her strongest. She spends the next quarter attaching dates to every goal and making one introduction a week between people in her audience, and stops trying to improve the decisiveness she already has.
→ One clearly identified weak trait and a quarter of targeted practice instead of scattered self-improvement.
Common mistakes
Scoring yourself a five
The midpoint is banned on purpose. Parking a trait in the middle hides whether it is a strength to lean on or a gap to close.
Reading the total as a success verdict
The score measures behaviours, not revenue or status. Star explicitly separates the two, so treating a low total as proof of failure misreads the tool.
Scoring aspirationally
Rating the version of yourself you intend to be produces a stage instruction aimed at the wrong person and wastes the quarter that follows.
Is it for you?
Best for
Female founders and operators who want a fast, honest self-audit that points to one specific behaviour to work on next.
Not ideal for
Anyone looking for a validated psychometric instrument or a revenue-based measure of business performance.
From the transcript
“So for each of these top five things, please rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10.”
“So if you scored less than 25, you're in the seed stage.”
“It can't be the number five. You can't give yourself a number five.”
From the episode
The Top 5 Things Successful Women Do Differently