Your Talents as Currency: Satiation in Your Life and Work

A trusted colleague once shared with me, “if you think of your talents as currency, and you spend them fully in your life and work each day, you will feel satiated.” We were talking over coffee about how we experience meaning in our work; that is, when we feel seen, heard, and authentically powerful. That conversation, now several years in the past, not only changed the way I live in my work but also, how I coach and empower individuals and groups.

When is the last time you took inventory of your talents? Those innate and natural gifts that make you uniquely effective in the way you think, relate, influence, and execute. The areas you can always strengthen with practice and experience, but cannot necessarily teach to others not “hard-wired” in the same way you are. While you can certainly take an assessment, such as CliftonStrengths, to call them out for you, a simple reflection can get you started on that inventory.

Think about a recent time when you were in flow: when your natural skills aligned with the challenges and opportunities immediately in front of you. When you were “so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that [you] will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” In what were you engaged? Researching or analyzing? Designing or creating? Counseling or developing? Fixing or restoring? Communicating or leading?

Memorialize your reflections about when you have been in flow, and been energized by your impact and efficacy. Better yet, keep an ongoing journal of such reflections and the moments that inspired them. Before long, you will notice a pattern: commonalities in what you were thinking, doing, and feeling that will help you identify for what talents you want and need to create more space. Perhaps in your current role with additional or different responsibilities. Or a new venture you create and own. Whatever the case, embrace the possibility of your talents as currency, and the meaning you will experience when you spend them fully each day.