Boy oh boy, this is really important
because people who know what the natural strengths are and use them and the context of the work they use them every day
Research shows that they perform better they get promotions faster
Hey Badasses
Welcome back to the Badass careers' YouTube channel where every single video takes you one step
Closer to building a career and life that you love. So I've got a question for you. Do you know what your
strengths are
Would you be able to describe in detail your unique gifts talents? What sets you apart?
What makes you different if you're answering? No, not at all
hmm kind of well
This is the video for you because we're definitely gonna get you started on these kinds of questions
and you'll have a much better idea of not just the generic things that everyone saves they're good at like I'm a people person but
What you are?
Specifically good at boy. Oh boy. This is
Really important. It's really important for you
and it's really important for the companies that you work for to because people who know what their natural strengths are and
Use them in the context of the work they use them every day
Their six times
More engaged in their work and are three times more likely to report having an excellent
Quality of life research shows that they perform better they get promotions faster
They even have less on-the-job
Accidents like I guess that's a bit
Harder to trip over by the water cooler when you're so stoked with what you're doing every day
And it's also really really important to understand what your strengths are from a recruitment perspective because they've formed a core pillars of your unique
Personal brand I can tell you when I was working as a recruiter
Especially on graduate programs where all of the CVS were starting to look really really similar
My eyes would almost start to just glaze over
When I'd open a new job application because they all say the same things that they were
Uniquely qualified for the role because they're a great communicator who loves people who can work. Well both
Individually and in the team but it almost started to feel like you're just reading a whole bunch of cliches
So when you can tap into your strengths and actually communicate those and they're part of your pitch they're part of your brand
They're gonna be there in your cover letter
They're gonna be there in your CV on your LinkedIn and it's actually gonna sound like you like if a friend or family member
Read your CV or read your LinkedIn
But yeah, that's you but before we dive into understanding exactly how to understand what our strengths are
Let's get crystal clear for a moment on what the strength is
So a strength is a natural underlying talent mixed with experience skills and knowledge
Okay, so it's things that come naturally to you, but you've also got to use it
And once you apply a strength something that comes naturally to you like that
You'll find that you're able to acquire skills in that area
Really quickly faster than the average and because it comes naturally to you. You'll usually find that it's also very very
Satisfying work as well when you when you're doing work that in line with your strengths and what's really interesting
Is that even though we're evolving a lot as people we change our experience change
We do lots of different things in life
Our strengths our underlying core strengths tend to stay
Relatively stable because they've usually been shaped over many many years all the way back to win your racquet
So strength is definitely not something like good with people. Okay, so it's a lot lot deeper than that
maybe you're good with people because you have this innate ability to really step into the shoes of other people and
Almost be able to read their mind almost be able to feel exactly what they're feeling
so they'll be talking to you about a problem and you'll just find the word and they'll be like I
Couldn't find the word. But yes that that's exactly what I wanted to say. Your strength here is empathy
So having a very Intune
Natural sense of empathy can be a strength for example and what that can do is make you good with people
Yes, it can make you a great listener. It can make you a great salesperson
It could make you an excellent writer and author
So there are many talents and and expressions of the strengths but there is strength itself is empathy. That's the true driver
So how do you know what your strengths are? Well, there are three main ways to figure it
Number one is looking back at your past experiences for clues
and here are a few prompts just to get you thinking you might want to you know
Pause this video after each question and write down some notes as you go, but what's really important that you don't do is self-edit
Don't train
Come up with the perfect response
Write down the first thing that comes to your mind no matter how messy or strange it might seem
We're not looking for perfect answers. We're looking for real ones. So let's dive into a few of these prompts
What do people come to you for advice or assistance with so what we're trying to understand here is what people have already identified?
You as an expert in because if you find that someone's always
Coming to you for career advice or they're always coming to you
To help them to organize their weddings and birthday parties and events and that kind of thing. That's really interesting information
So you should capture that down. Next is what kind of skills or knowledge?
Seemed to come quite naturally to you
So without a lot of studying without a lot of coaching without having to work really really hard
What tends to come to you?
Relatively quickly, maybe quicker than the average
So what do you tend to see you will understand quicker than most people the next just think about the last time that you were
Really immersed in something you're in a state of flow
Which was when you're so consumed by what you're working on that time just seemed to disappear
Just timeless flying by without you even noticing it and what were you doing?
The last time you're in a state of flow the next one
How would your best friend describe you and what do people tend to compliment you on or give you positive?
Feedback on are there any themes and patterns coming up?
And what are you doing when you're feeling most alive or energized at work? What are your favorite parts of the job?
Why do you think that is when you're answering questions like this? It's really important to take your time
And as I say don't self edit just let it all come out stream of consciousness
But when you're going back to your answers
It's really interesting to see if there are any themes or patterns
Now if you're interested in doing an actual activity like this
This is the whole first week that's dedicated to this in my free course
find my why so find my why is a step-by-step guide to helping you find your career purpose and
The first week is all about your innate talents your strengths your natural abilities that kind of things
so
These kinds of exercises I have these
Workbooks and there's live other things to do in there too if you're interested in going further and learning more
It could really really help you out
So I'll leave that link for you down below in the description box and I'll also link down to the video that I did on
Career purpose more generally so that you can see in context the second way to understand what your strengths are is
Just to ask and I know that it can be a bit strange or scary to be that vulnerable and put yourself out there
But what I'd really recommend is sending a text message
Honestly, it can be as simple as that or an email to five people that you really trust and respect
They can be colleagues friends family members and you can ask them something. Like when have you seen me at my best?
like can you describe a time where you saw me and I was
Obviously in my element you could even just straight up ask them
What do you think that I do better than the average person?
and for those people actually wanting to go to the next level and I actually
Recommend that you do this anyway, before you are and your performance review and that kind of thing
But you could actually create an anonymous survey
Using a free tool like type Form for example or Survey Monkey and you can send out an anonymous survey with some questions
But hey
I won't be able to tell who answered this or what you as an individual answered but im just trying to collect some feedback on on
My year, you can ask you in or where have I really excelled this year
Where have you seen me at my best and how would you recommend that I take myself to the next level for next year?
there's something like that and what you would really want to focus on is again themes and patterns and
When you've where you've excelled, you know, like what kind of people were around you what was the environment?
What skills were you using because it will help you to kind of understand
when you're at your best and maybe a bit more about why and
Uncovering those deepest strengths that you're using in the moment the third way to understand what your strengths are to actually do an official
Diagnostic, so there are strengths
diagnosis out there and I used to use them a lot when I was an HR manager for a big fortune 500
Company and we would use it to help really high potential
Up-and-coming leaders to figure out what their strengths were so that they could get the most out of their careers and the tool we used
As good gallop strengths finder and I'm actually a certified coach and Gaelic strengths finder so I know a little bit about how it works
But before we understand how it works, we kind of have to understand a little bit about how the brain works
So bear with me for a minute, so to keep it really simple
our brain is made up of billions and billions of neurons and neurons are cells that just look like billions and billions of little
Pathways in the brain and every in these neurons are synapses
And so when an area of the brain is being used the synapses are firing
to each other
You know from one neuron to the other the sending electrical currents to each other so that they can talk together and work together
but the plot twist is that every single time a neuron is used in a current goes through the neuron a
Deposits a layer of a fatty acid could myelin and that's conductive?
So every single time it's used you get another layer and another layer so a pathway
Eventually becomes like a giant highway. So it's like the difference between 90s dial-up and
high-speed fiber-optic
Broadband, so the neurons that you've been using your whole life and most often ever since you're a child over time
They become super conductive and easy for the signals to pass through and it's easy for the brain to use
So obviously you tend to be a bit quicker using these big highways rather than using this sort of backcountry
Pathway in other parts of your brain and of course, we're lucky enough to have neuroplasticity
so the brain can
can change and we can we can grow and develop and likewise if we don't use areas of the brain they can die off but
The thing is our brains love to conserve energy
It takes a lot of energy to run a brain and so if they can find an easier pathway to take they'll take it
it's like the path of least resistance because obvious it's gonna be so much harder taking a whiny little pathway or even
Building a road from scratch than it is to just default to that. Nice big
Sealed highway that you could just zoom along
and so what these Diagnostics are doing is that they're designed in a way that question is in the time so they're tapping into your
Fastest gut response. So they're trying to tap into these highways in your brain actually
And so the way that they work is that they're really trying to draw out the things that come quicker to you than the average
Person, so if you have any questions about that, and you would like to do the diagnostic or a debrief with me
feel free to send me a DM on
Instagram or you can email me at hello@badasscareers.com and we can check further
Otherwise, I'll leave the link to the Gallop website down below and you can check it out yourself. So guys
I hope this really useful in understanding how you can figure out what your unique super strengths are
And if you're someone who cares about your career
Why don't you go hit the subscribe button so that we can navigate this crazy world of work together?
So until next time stay badass, and I'll see you guys in the next video. Bye