At some point or another, many of us find ourselves facing the question ‘What are my strengths and resources?’ Perhaps we are asked this directly during a job interview, or we think about this when we are deciding our choice of career path. Maybe we are faced with this question when we have encountered a difficult period or a challenge in life where we need to make use of our strengths and resources in order to move forward. Or maybe we wish to become aware of what we can contribute to teams that we form part of. In this blog I will share 3 ideas that can help you in your discovery of finding what you are good at.
- Looking back in time
How did you get through difficult situations or challenges in the past? What resources did you use? What did this situation teach you about yourself? Reflecting on past situations and how you coped in challenges can start to help with shedding light onto your resources. For instance, you might notice what strategies you used to deal with stress, or perhaps you were surprised with how assertive you were in speaking up about the things that you did not like, or that maybe you still managed to find things that are good about life even in hard times. Maybe you notice that you were able to reach out and seek support from others; this is also a very important resource to have.
2. Listening to what others have to say
In the previous point, I spoke about the value of reflection. However, it is also useful to seek out feedback from others. If you feel comfortable with doing this directly with people that you trust and who you think can provide you with insight about yourself, you can opt to ask them what they think your resources are, when they have seen you in your element, what you contribute to relationships, tasks and so on. You can even take the opportunity to introduce spaces where feedback can be exchanged on a regular basis. For instance, at work, you can suggest introducing appraisals, or perhaps the practice of evaluating different tasks and projects, where the different team members can highlight what colleagues contributed to these projects. This will open up spaces for you to learn about yourself continuously, considering that our strength and resources might mature or shift from one context to the other.
3. Keeping an open mind
Be open to discovering what you don’t already know. If you keep an open mind to new activities and to trying out things that you never tried before, you might come in touch with new resources and learn things about yourself that you were not aware of. These will be new edges for you to develop, and new resources that you might want to tap into in the future.
Rebecca Cassar is a Family Therapist practicing the Systemic Approach. She specializes in offering therapy to families, couples and individuals who are experiencing distress in their relationships. She can be contacted on rebecca@willingness.com.mt or call us on 79291817.