Clues to Identifying Your Natural Talents

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Clues to Identifying Your Natural Talents

In last month's newsletter, I spoke about identifying and developing the skills you need to reach your goals. That can be easier said than done, however, because many of us have more than one skill we’d like to develop. A common mistake is to try to develop all the skills at once—and then end up not developing any of them well. So how do you choose one skill to work on this year?

Look to your talents.

We are most successful when we operate out of our natural talents. Often we skip right over what our natural talents are and instead look to external sources like books or the media that tell us we need to do X and Y in order to accomplish Z. That’s why I have every student in my Career Free Agent course complete the Clifton Strengths Assessment—so they understand where their natural talents lie and can lead from those strengths.? We spend so much time trying to shore up our weaknesses when really you should dump the things you aren’t naturally good at it. That is not your ministry!

Here are 5 clues to your natural talents:

1. Yearning. What kinds of activities are you naturally drawn to? What energizes you? Conversely, what drains your energy? What do you wish you could do more of?
2. Rapid learning. What activities do you pick up quickly? Many of us are guilty of dismissing the things that come easily to us, but these are our most natural talents!
3. Flow. What activities do you seem to automatically know the steps for? What are the things you know how to do intuitively?
4. Glimpses of excellence. During what activities have you had subconscious glimpses of excellence? When have you surprised yourself by how good you were at something??
5. Satisfaction. What activities give you a kick—either while you’re doing them or immediately afterward? What makes you say, “When can I do that again?”

Then choose to develop a skill within one of your top talents. If you’ve always been naturally good at communicating, maybe you choose to further develop your writing or public speaking skills. If you have a knack for bringing people together, offer to lead a project at work or in your community. If you can’t find the skill development opportunities you need at work, look to volunteer or professional organizations. Create the opportunities you need.??

When you operate from your greatest talents, you set yourself up for success.