Do you know your true strength(s)? The KEY to real motivation at work (plus tips to identify them)
As Pablo Picasso once said: "The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away." It took me many years to discover my gifts. And yes, it's in plural, because typically we have several gifts to give away. And I am still discovering them by the way. Discovering what I am good at, just because of who I am, not because of what's on my C.V.
Do you know what you are truly good at? Something that, when you apply those strengths (for instance analytical skills, presentation skills or empathic skills) you feel truly strong and energized? The funny thing is, you can easily be good at something without it truly energizing and motivating you. And continuing to do something because of other people telling you that you are good at it, and without it truly energizing you, is the recipe of "a slow death" at work. Or for becoming what my American colleagues called it while I worked in Indianapolis, dead wood.
A famous Gallup-survey discovered that we only apply our true strengths some 20% of the time while at work, equal to just about one day per week.* What a loss of motivation and productivity! A later survey discovered that when we apply our innate strenghts, we are up to 4 times as productive. But how do we identify those strenghts?
My own journey started with discovering a book in Chicago Airport in 2007. "Identifying Your Strenghts" by Marcus Buckingham (todays version of the same book is entitled "Stand out 2.0", and no, I am not affiliated with the author). This was at a point in time where I was applying my strengths about 0% of the time in the job that I had. Result? Well, as I normally say about that period; "I have never in my life made as much money, and at the same time been as sad about my (work)life." The book begged to be read, and it was a wake up call for me. A book that, together with my nocturnal dreams giving me the courage to make the shift, led to a major career change. To begin with from leadership in sales and marketing in the pharmaceutical industry, to teaching project management and leadership in the training industry. And later to doing what I do now, combining my gift(s) with my passion (see below how I do that).
SO - I'd strongly encourage you to actively start discovering your strenghts. E.g. by reading Marcus Buckingham's book. Or by taking the Clifton Strengthsfinder Test (indeed different from classic personality/profiling tools), which was often referred to in the book just mentioned. To begin with, you can make a simple Word-document with two headlines; "Give's energy" and "Takes energy" - and then over a period of two-three months start noting down (every day!) what activities at work gave you energy, and what activities drained you from energy. From there you will normally see a pattern emerge.
What are my (true) strenghts and how do I use them today? I feel strong and deeply energized when teaching and doing (corporate) talks on dreams. And lately I was reminded of another situation in which I truly shine. Doing personal, 1:1 sessions on dreams (dream work sessions). I.e., helping individuals (like you!) making sense of their dreams. I had more or less stopped doing them, and instead focused on doing talks. But when I last week for some reason ended up having two dream work sessions in a day (with two men in the midst of their lives being deeply challenged with different issues), I was reminded why I do what I do with dreams. You cannot put into words what understanding a dream can do for you making sense of your life. For finding deep, inner guidance. And that is why I want to invite you to reach out to me if you have had a (recurring?) dream, or several, that you want to understand. A typical dream session (normally online using Zoom/Teams or similar), has a duration of 1? hour, and the price is 1.500 DKK / 215 USD. You can reach me directly at [email protected], or via this (my) website, where you can also share your dream(s) confidentially before our profound conversation (dream work sessions are always profound because we normally get to talk about something deeply important about ourselves and our relations, our job, that we wouldn't otherwise talk about.
领英推荐
Best - and as always - Happy dreamworking!
Michael