If I asked you about your strengths, you would probably answer me with the most readily available to you. They probably have helped you in your career and business.
I bet you have practiced some of them for a long time. For example, for me design didn’t come quickly, I had to learn and practice a lot before I grasped the basic concepts, but now it’s one of my strengths, and I enjoy it.
Those types of strengths have a considerable value because they came with efforts. But I want to talk about the hidden ones, those that are so easy for you, that you don’t even notice them.
Let me give you an example. Just as with design, I’m really good at strategy and base building video games. I tend to understand the rules quickly and to manage all aspects of the game to build a successful settlement.
Those kinds of games also give me an immense amount of fun. I know that for a lot of people they sound boring, but for me, I find them super enjoyable, because I can see my little base growing into a full fortress or city.
However, one day I stopped to think about what skills I was using during these types of games and how they showed in other parts of my life. And with a little help from my friend Craig Filek, I learned that understanding assets and managing them is one of my strengths.
The same asset managing skill showed in my finances, how I create my budget and which types of tools I use to keep my life organized and running.
As I started recognizing this skill, I integrated it into my business. I began managing all the technology that my clients need, and how it connects to improve their business.
For me, it was like discovering a gold mine. Not only I enjoyed the work immensely, but my clients loved that I had the skills necessary to simplify such a complex task.
I bet you also have hidden strengths that you can use to take you closer to your goals and to your vision of success. That’s why I want to help you find them!
The first step is to ask your family and friends: what are those things they think are easy for you?
If you ask at least 10 people, you will find that the answers range from the obvious things to some that you never expected to show in there.
If necessary ask more questions to find out why they think you have that particular skill or when have they seen it. That way the next step will become so much easier.
Now that you have a list of answers. It’s time for you to start adding your own topics. List all the things you are good at, even those that are entirely unrelated to your work or career.
Are you good at cooking? Add it.
Are you very consistent in your routines? Yep, write it on the list.
Are you good at listening to other people? Include it too!
Take the time to add everything that comes to your mind, the more things you have on your list, the better.
Now that your list has all these different and seemingly random skills. It’s time for you to start looking for patterns. Some of those skills or activities may be related in some ways.
For example, managing my finances and making a virtual colony grow on mars is more or less the same management skill.
Finding the right troops to fight a battle is more or less the same skill as choosing the right tech tools to help a business grow. It involves deconstructing the problem and finding the best approach to solve it with the assets at hand.
You will find similar patterns on your list. Write all those recurring skills, those are your hidden strengths. They are so easy for you that you don’t even think about them, you are just a natural!
But knowing about them is not the only thing you can do. I want you to start thinking about ways you can implement those skills in a fun and powerful way within your business.
For example, if you are good at listening to other people’s problems, perhaps you can add that to every client meeting and listen to their needs carefully so you can offer a better solution.
If you are good at creating processes, maybe you can improve the way you do things within your business.
Once you start adding your hidden strengths to the way you work on your business, you will see that your business starts growing naturally. It’s all because you have found your differentiator, those things that put you apart from other people that do the same thing as you.
So take the time, to find those skills that you excel at, but you have never noticed. They can become your edge and the core of your strategy to create the success you want for yourself.