How to Find the Work You Were Meant to Do

Written by Susan Dunn, M.A.


Permission is granted to reprint provided bio line stays intact.

Alex is a published novelist. He was 21 before someone whose opinion he trusted pointed out to him that he could write. He hadn't a clue. He had started a rudimentary journal when he was 8, and a neighborhood newsletter when he was 10. He thought writing was something everyone could do and no big deal.

This happens all too often with talents. Talents are innate; something so easy for you to do you can't remember when you couldn't do it; something you 'can't help doing' so you don't feel it when you do it, and you also think everyone can, they just aren't. Talents are also things that are fun for you to do, almost inrepparttar sense of flow - you'd do them even if you weren't getting paid, and in fact they arerepparttar 131280 hobbies and avocations of many of us. If you cease doing it for a while and start up again, you're immediately back up to speed.

Knowledge and skills can be acquired, but talents are innate.

Why is this important? In their book, "Now, Discover Your Strengths," Buckingham and Clifton proposerepparttar 131281 theory that if you work in your strength areas, you can perform consistently and effortlessly at a near perfect level and find great satisfaction. Sounds like heaven on earth, doesn't it? Well, there are ways to get there. Listen up! “Most of us have little sense of our talents and strengths,"repparttar 131282 authors say. "Guided by our parents, by our teachers, by our managers, and by psychology’s fascination with pathology, we become experts in our weaknesses and spend our lives trying to repair these flaws, while our strengths lie dormant and neglected."

Can 2,000,000+ people be wrong? That's how many people were interviewed forrepparttar 131283 data in this book. From their research, Buckingham and Clifton Buckingham do not supportrepparttar 131284 extreme and extremely misleading contention that "you can play any role you set your mind to," but it did lead to this truth: "Whatever you set your mind to, you will be most successful when you craft your role to play to your signature talents most ofrepparttar 131285 time.”

From their research, they came up withrepparttar 131286 StrengthsFinder profile (you can take it if you buyrepparttar 131287 book) which will return to you your 5 top "themes." There are 34 themes, and they have such names as -- Empathy, Communicator, WOO (winning people over), Deliberative, Intellection, Significance, Achiever, Activator, and Maximizer.

In my work with clients and their profiles -- I'm a coach -- I've found Peter Drucker to be right on when he said most Americans don't know what their strengths are. "When you ask them," he said, "they look at you with a blank stare, or they respond in terms of subject knowledge, which isrepparttar 131288 wrong answer.”

Here's an example (used with permission) of a client's profile. He was very unhappy selling insurance, and his profile came back, in this order: Positivity (optimism), WOO (winning others over), Empathy, Communication, Activator. From my experience this man hadrepparttar 131289 most seamless interface with people I've ever experienced. He didn't knowrepparttar 131290 meaning of "cold call." He thought they were "fun." Even without knowingrepparttar 131291 long definitions of those terms, wouldn't you say this man could talk a bird down out of a tree, and sell ice to an Eskimo? Andrepparttar 131292 Empathy made him sincere and authentic about it. Like everyone else I've worked with, he didn't "believe" his profile, as Drucker said. He said, "You mean my boss was right allrepparttar 131293 time. I really am good at this?" "Yes," said I; I was giving him e-courses for free, and it had happened so smoothly, I haven't even noticed it.

The solution in his case was to move him to a much bigger playing field. Such talents, after all. He's now in sales, selling a huge ticket item that benefits humanity (the Empathy) andrepparttar 131294 price tag makes it worthwhile to him, i.e., he can feel it.

Other patterns? I've found that people with Maximizer in their profiles arerepparttar 131295 most sure their profiles aren't theirs. Maximizers are adamant about treating people as unique individuals, and any sort of categorization (such as an assessment) grates on them. See how it works? Even though with 33,000,000 possible combinations, it is highly unlikely you'd ever see two profiles that wererepparttar 131296 same. How unique is that?

Maximizer also has shown up inrepparttar 131297 profiles ofrepparttar 131298 3 coaches I've done; Maximizer means loving to put polish onrepparttar 131299 pearl, to make something great into something really superb. It's what they do! Nice trait for a coach, eh?

Let Go Of The Past

Written by John Colanzi


Let Go Of The Past by John Colanzi

Have you ever walked by a low fence and wondered whyrepparttar dog inside will run to it, but won't jump over, no matter how many times he runs to it barking and growling?

The odds arerepparttar 131277 dog was placed insiderepparttar 131278 fence as a puppy. He grows up seeing that fence as being higher than it is.

He learned as a puppy that no matter how many times he tries to clear it, it's just too high.

Over time he gradually tries less often, until eventually he quits trying. He just knows he'll never clear that fence.

The same thing happens to us overrepparttar 131279 years. We try to reach a goal and fail.

We muster uprepparttar 131280 courage to try again and fall just short ofrepparttar 131281 mark. Gradually that fence becomes higher in our minds, than it really is.

It's a gradual insidious process and we seldom notice it's happening. Over time that fence becomes more imposing.

Our efforts become a little less enthusiastic. We start building fences in our mind and like that little puppy we begin to break.

We begin a new goal with so many doubts. We just know we won't reach it, and so we don't.

We start thinking to ourselves, I knew I couldn't do it.

Our doubts become a self fulfilling prophecy.

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