To do what you love: 4 ways to find out what You're good at

To do what you love — the universal dream. But there is one problem: not always what we really like is what we are good at. But that doesn't mean your dream is dead! Just need to figure out how to approach its implementation with the skills you already have. Of course, the dream in this case can be corrected. Four questions that all of this will help, brought Whitney Johnson — author of the book Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work and columnist for The Daily Muse.

1. What skills helped you succeed in something?Childhood and student years, you probably developed some skills. A successful consultant Scott Edinger grew up in a poor family, and at age nine he was adopted by another family under not very pleasant circumstances. Edinger learned to survive, becoming a specialist in communication, conflict resolution, understanding and persuading people.

 

 





At the University he polished his communication skills: was in the top five in a hundred of the University's debate and received a diploma in communications and rhetoric. After some time he became the number two seller in one of the largest American companies, and then helping organizations to reform the inefficient units and focus on key skill for business survival — how to sell products.

Not everyone is as unlucky as a child, as Edinger. But still you are faced with some obstacles in life and come up with a way to circumvent them. Think about the situations that challenge you: do they have anything in common? If Yes, then this is something you good. So think, in what area or for what position, this skill will come in handy.

  2. What makes you feel stronger?Marcus Buckingham, author of "Get high," explains: "Our strengths attract the attention of the most basic way: when you use them, you feel stronger. Pay attention to moments when you feel refreshed, curious, and successful. This is a hint about what are your strengths".

Also think about do you take when you feel overwhelmed. In such cases, we want to feel control. And for that you need to do what makes you feel stronger. If you decide on such cases, and skills, you will also increase your level of happiness, but it helps to better solve a variety of problems.

3. What made you special in the childhood?In childhood we do only what we like, even if you look at that, some strange. Thinking back to those classes now, you may discover a natural talent. Classmates candice brown Elliot teased her "encyclopedia brown" (that was the nickname of a character in a book. She recalls: "All the kids thought I was the smartest in school, but most teachers were frustrated because I was getting mostly threes. Thought I was lagging". And she, meanwhile, dreamed of a lively conversation with celebrities like Marie Curie, about how to develop a true artificial intelligence that will sit in her closet. She dreamed of floating cities, great inventions and new art forms.

Forty years have passed, and on account of Elliot 90 patents. Its most famous invention — PenTile, architecture color LCD screen — runs in the hundreds of millions of smartphones, tablets, laptops and televisions. She founded the company to develop this technology, and later sold it to Samsung. All those childhood dreams Elliot her classmates considered weird, and the teachers they are just annoying. But in adult life this tendency to dream was her super powers.

Did you have something special in your childhood? Could this be your superpower?

4. What compliments do you ignore?Too often we don't notice their strengths. When you do something good at the reflective level, is not evident. So listen carefully to the compliments that you would normally dismiss or ignore, because this skill seems commonplace and natural. You may hear some compliments so often that you are already sick of them! Why can't people praise you for something you really worked very hard, tried so hard to do it well?

This tendency to shrug off compliments is understandable, but it so happens that you start selling your real value with big discount. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: "In every work of genius we find our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated Majesty". Do not think that if something you get easily or seems obvious, then it can't be rare and valuable for other people skill.

Do you hear sometimes such compliments? What super powers are not included in your resume?

So you can define your explicit strengths that others don't go the way you have. Look for problems that cause you to have a special fascination, and apply to them these same skills are strong.

P. S. And remember, only by changing their consumption — together we change the world! © Join us at Facebook , Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki

Source: ideanomics.ru/?p=5036