What are your strengths? What sets you apart? What is it that you can do better, faster or more easily than other people? Is it your ability to motivate a team? Your knack for seeing solutions and possibilities? Your skill with a program or type of analysis? Is there a specific task or activity that you do at a consistently high level that doesn’t feel like work at all? It’s often easy to overlook or underestimate your strengths because these are the things that feel effortless to you. To help you identify strengths that you may not have yet recognized, think about what comes most easily to you. Consider the talents, abilities, and skills that others compliment you most frequently on. Reflect on the things that other people most consistently ask you to help with. Identify, understand and capitalize on your strengths.
Doing work that takes advantage of your strengths increases the likelihood that you will thrive in your career. Once you have identified areas where you have an advantage, figure out a way to increase the amount of time you spend in that area. For example, if you enjoy leading teams, volunteer to head up the next project. If you are a born problem solver, take on a stalled project or a complex assignment and see what you can do to move things forward. If you come alive whenever you’re client-facing, look for ways to be more involved in business development opportunities. Once you know what your strengths are, capitalize on them in order to thrive in your career.
More information on this tip can be found in Lead Your Way: Practical Coaching Advice for Creating the Career You Want
For more Career Tips, check out: Welcome Change Blog
