Whether we believe it or not, we’re all good at something. Throughout your life, you develop a certain set of abilities that are unique to you. These strengths can then benefit you in many areas of your life and even set the course for your future. A little boy who loves to help his mom in the kitchen grows up to become a world-class chef. In high school, a girl finds her passion for running track and field and qualifying for the Olympics becomes her ultimate dream. You might be good at teaching or interior design or public speaking. Anyone can excel at just about anything. Our strengths fuel us, inspire us, and often make life worth living.
I believe your strengths are the intersection of what you’re good at and what you enjoy. You can excel at things you don’t necessarily enjoy, but I think strengths get so much more powerful when they bring a sense of fulfillment. You may already know what your strengths are, or maybe you’re not so sure. Sometimes our strengths come to us naturally, but I think we usually have to do a little more work to discover them. Here are some things you can do to help you discover your strengths.
Take some time for introspection and self-reflection. When you’re unsure or unconfident about your strengths, this is a good place to start. If you’re struggling with knowing what your strengths are in the present, think about what you were good at and what you enjoyed in the past. I feel like as we get older, it’s easy to lose sight of the strengths we had when we were younger. See if you can bring some of those past strengths back into your life now. You can also reflect on the things you’re good at and enjoy in the present. You might already have certain strengths and not even know it. Once you reflect on your past and present strengths, think about the impact those strengths could have on your future. If you see a particular strength or set of strengths bringing positivity, fulfillment, and inspiration into your life, then you’ll know it’s meaningful to you and worth diving into.
Try things out. You know the saying: you won’t know if you don’t try. Do a little experimenting and try out some different skills. Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn how to sew or paint or perform magic tricks. If there’s something you wish you were good at, try it out for yourself! And don’t be afraid to mess up along the way. It’s okay if what you hoped would be a strength is actually a weakness. You can always keep trying to improve, or you can try something else. There’s no limit to the amount of strengths you can have, and the more you try, the more you’ll learn about yourself.
Don’t let the opinion of others stop you. Sometimes the people in your life will have ideas or judgements about what you’re good at and how you should implement those things into your life. Your parents might really want you to be a professional athlete because of your football skills. Your friends might love your advice and tell you to be a therapist. Your teacher believes in your imagination and wants you to be a writer. The people who care about you are all coming from a good place. But you don’t have to feel the need to continue on with that particular thing just because you’re good at it and other people have noticed. If you don’t enjoy it, or you want to do something else, don’t let the opinions of others hold you back, no matter how well-intentioned they are.
Don’t overthink it, just do it! I know this is easier said than done, especially if you’re like me and you overthink basically everything. Of course it’s important to put thought into it, but try not to let your thoughts prevent you from doing anything at all. When you’re trying something new, it’s sometimes easy to get caught up in all the things that could go wrong and all the ways you could mess up and the possibility of failure. These are all valid thoughts, but it’s important to not let them get in the way of starting in the first place. Find a balance of listening to your thoughts, acknowledging them, but politely pushing them to the side so you can move on to testing and improving your strengths.
See your potential for growth. Strengths don’t usually start out as strengths (unless you’re a genius or a prodigy). They take work, commitment, and dedication. Once you’ve done the work to cultivate your strengths, realize all the things they can bring to your life. Your strengths are a starting point for opportunities, achievements, and bringing dreams to life.
You are capable of so much in this life. You might have days where you feel far from your strengths, but remind yourself that they are always within you. You just have to bring them forth and discover them. Embrace your strengths, celebrate them, and remind yourself there is always room for even more.
what do you think?