“What? I have no Superpowers!” you say. “I can’t scale tall buildings using my sticky web-fingers like Spiderman. Nor can I stop gunfire from every direction with my magic bracelets like Wonder-woman. And I could never control the weather like Halle Berry’s Stormy character (much less rock that leather costume like she does…)”
OK. I get it. But that’s not what I’m talking about. Employers hire folks because of their skills and how you can use them to help the organization solve their problems. And there is a skill, strength, super-power—call it what you will—that you have that you can do better than anyone you know. What is that?
Obstacles to knowing or showing your strengths
Some people truly may not know their critical skills. My coach has a great quote, “Your ‘normal’ is someone else’s ‘aha.’” Meaning what you take for granted, because you are so terrific at it, other people may struggle with. Do you know what that is?
Others may be concerned to use them, hesitant to be seen as a “show off.” But in the career development arena, this is no time to be shy—it’s the time to flaunt it!
“Expressing your talents, in whatever you do, is the key to your fulfillment in life.” (Jonathan Tessier, Training Professional.) To put it another way, what we love usually involves the expression of our innate talents. So don’t ignore them.
How to Discover Your Strengths
1) Ask yourself the following questions.
- When have I have been tremendously successful. What activity was I involved in?
- What activity do I often find myself volunteering for?
- When I lose track of time, or forget to stop for lunch, what am I doing? (This is called “being in the zone.”)
- What is it that I love to do, and what talents are behind this?
- What can I do now to live more fully from the place of my strengths and experience more fulfillment in my life?
- What changes in my life might I have to make for my skills to be fully expressed?
2) If you aren’t especially self-reflective, there are a couple of other ways to find your superpowers.
The first is by asking others directly. Ask your friends, coworkers or partners what stands out to them that you are especially good at. If that doesn’t produce the results you want, you can try a 360o feedback tool. I love these because they are anonymous and so the feedback you get is unfiltered and honest. You can gain much insight as to how you are seen by others—and what they think you do exceptionally well.
So are you feeling powerful, focusing on your skills set? Great! Own that power. And stay tuned to our upcoming blog post which will help you to demonstrate your killer skills!
