Brief 013: Do you actually know what your strengths are?

If someone asked you:
“What are you really good at?”

Could you answer without thinking too hard?

A lot of us struggle with this. We think a strength has to be something impressive.
Leadership.
Public speaking.
Being “a genius” at something.

But strengths can be much different.

Maybe people always come to you when they need help explaining something.
Maybe you’re the person who notices problems before everyone else does.
Maybe you can organise chaos.
Maybe you’re good at making people feel comfortable.
Maybe you ask questions that other people don’t think to ask.
Maybe you learn new systems quickly.

These are strengths too.

And here’s a useful way to find yours:
Look for patterns.

What do people regularly ask you to help with?
What kind of work feels natural to you?
What do you tend to do well without needing as much effort as others?
What compliments do you keep hearing?
What problems do you actually enjoy solving?

And don’t only look at school or work, as your strengths can show up in everyday life too.

The friend who always plans the trip might have strong organisational skills.
The person everyone calls when there’s an argument might be good at mediation.
The person who can turn a complicated story into something everyone understands might have strong communication skills.

Sometimes your strengths are hiding inside things you simply think:
“But… everyone can do that.”

No, they can’t.
That’s why it feels normal to you.

But identifying a strength doesn’t mean assuming you’re already excellent at it. It means noticing where you have something worth developing.

This is because a strength becomes much more valuable when you understand it, practise it and learn how to use it deliberately.

My question here is: What do people keep coming to you for, even when you don’t think it’s a big deal?

That might be a clue.

Read the next Brief here: Brief 014: What if you don’t know what you want to do yet?