Not sure where your strengths lie in? Try out these three simple steps!

The Three Essential Steps

Step 1: Name at least two good things each about your personality, habits, behaviour, beliefs, values and skills

The good things about you doesn’t have to be on an astronomical scale. You don’t have to be a philanthropist or a two-time kidney donor. Wait a minute. A two-time donor? Oh never mind. Anyway, smaller deeds, like giving up your seat to the elderly counts too!

Step 2: Verify with your family and close friends

Self-explanatory I guess. Have a HTHT session with them! (HTHT = heart-to-heart talk. Some well-known acronym that we use in Singapore).

Step 3: Decide for yourself. What are your strong points? How will they help in driving you towards your desired goals?

Sounds like the exact steps I wrote on identifying your weaknesses. One thing to note here though…

What You Are Good At ≠ What You Like!
True? I have a tutee who’s skilled at drawing (I give part-time tuition remember?). But only because her mum had forced her to take up art lessons when she was younger. After years of practice, she became skilled at it. In truth, she hates drawing. So don’t confuse the things you are proficient in with your true passion.

This is So Much Easier with Mind-Maps
If you have been following my posts for some time already, you should have a personal mind-map that looks like that:

 
Your strengths can be found anywhere in your mind-map. Circle them in red (see above)! Are they in line with your passion and goals? Feel free to add a new sub-topic on your strengths.

The New Generation
Times are changing. People are changing. It’s the Information Age. An age whereby nothing seems impossible. You don’t need the good looks of Brad Pitts or Megan Fox to be rich and famous. Susan Boyle did it. A Taiwanese singer, Lin Yu Chun, dubbed by many news sources as “Taiwan’s Susan Boyle”, gained fame recently and even had a chance to perform at The Ellen Degeneres Show in April this year. Call him cute? Maybe. But I wouldn’t say it’s good looks that got him there.

Geeks used to be a total turnoff. But I see many rise to stardom now. Another famous singer from Taiwan, Lu Guang Zong, bears a mushroom head and still command loud cheering from the crowd.

Slowly getting my point ya? With a little creativity, you can turn your significant strengths into a respectable career. Think you have the loudest burp? Go join the Guinness Book of Records! Think you are a humorous geek? Go start a Facebook group on geeky humour. And sell geeky T-shirts.

Who knows? You might just start the next hot trend. Á la vôtre!