In the world of work, recognizing what you do best and positioning yourself in that space is your potent primer to excel. Every individual has unique talents and strengths which make them outstanding in particular fields. An experienced and professional chauffeur definitely may not survive at a front desk and vice versa.
Consequently, there is the need to identify your uniqueness, own it and become a pro. A jack-of-all-trades eventually becomes a master of none, hence your failure to be a master of a particular field will render you useless to your organization. You will find yourself wanting if you are hopping from one discipline or department to the other; a true measure of your career prominence is anchored on consistency in a defined field.
Two of the quickest questions to ask yourself and answer when you are out of school are:
- What do I want to do?
- What can I do best?
Your course of study may not necessarily be your field. There are different stories of business moguls who successfully pioneered enterprises they were not specifically trained for in school, such as Dr. Osei Kwame Despite or Mark Zuckerberg. Thus, education refines and shapes you as an individual; it is not necessarily a certification to success. Success is determined by how you leverage on your strengths for your benefit and attainment. Shall we have a little strength assessment?
- What are you most passionate about?
Finding your passion plays a key role in knowing your strength. What are you most excited about and will go at any length to ensure its achievement? Anything that motivates you beyond a salary or an income is likely to be your passion.
This is one thing that keeps you going, it fuels you to go all out without quitting till the set goal is achieved. Engaging in this makes your day, week, month or an entire lifetime. To be far reaching and purposeful, your passion should engineer solution and create value for your immediate surroundings which can grow into a niche you can continue to serve in the foreseeable future.
- What comes to you naturally?
These can be said to be talents and abilities. What do you easily seem to get right when everyone in your department gets wrong? What do you enjoy doing most because you use less strength or energy? There are things you do by rote, or as a result of routine and rigorous work, and there are things that just happen effortlessly and done with so much grace and tenacity, it almost feels like a scene out of a box office movie: picture perfect!
It could be that you have a charming voice and all you need to do is open your mouth and sing, or you are excellent at finding patterns and drawing up nice sketches for architectural and/or aesthetic purposes. You find yourself talking and sounding appealing to an audience (might be just your friends at a restaurant or your colleagues at an end-of-quarter event at your place of work); hone on that and you might just be kick-starting a conglomerate.
- What is your perfect fit?
You may not only love a particular thing or have it as a talent, sometimes you are just the perfect fit for it. You do a particular thing and leave a touch of excellence and uniqueness that makes it stand out. People are also perfect fit for roles when their personalities, charisma and perhaps physical appearance set them up for the role.
For instance, it can be observed that front desk executives in most institutions are often beautiful ladies. They are perceived to be the perfect fit for the role as they are the first representatives of the company, therefore there is a need for a comely outlook and also a natural inclination to cater to needs of visitors or prospective clients, as a primary welcoming quality in their institution. This can be likened to making sure you have a classy and warm interior décor in your parlor or reception to welcome guests and make them feel at ease.
Having properly answered these questions thoroughly, you should have some strengths listed. Ensure they are within the range of 1 to 5. Next, go through these questions again and make sure your list is now narrowed to one or two. There you can find what appeals to you most.
When you identify this forte, stay in your lane, grow in that space, spot more learning opportunities available and set objectives to scale up.
Certainly, don’t leave that zone to compete with others dominating their own departments with the notion of challenging yourself. Focus on your particular field and develop yourself to be the best there. Remember, no one shines in their area of weakness.
>>>the writer is a corporate trainer and professional ghost-writer assisting busy executives to write and publish their books, articles and speeches. He has served as Head of Protocol at a diplomatic mission, Corporate Affairs Officer at a French multinational agribusiness and as Events and Media Correspondent for a digital ad agency. You can contact the author via: [email protected] or [email protected]
