Doesn't everyone do that?

(Here's a clue: no they don't! And you might just have stumbled on your super strength!)

I once attended a team-building workshop in which we were asked to identify our values and strengths. The workshop facilitator was a colleague who I previously had worked with on a project. He said to me ‘Why did you not write down that you always want to make something look pretty?’. I looked at him and said ‘But surely that goes without saying!’.

Up until then I genuinely believed that everyone did the same. Turns out that not everyone wants to make everything look pretty! Turns out that this is actually one of my signature strengths, from which I derive immense satisfaction on an everyday basis.

Your strengths are the things you always do.

Things you do without effort. Daily actions from which you derive real satisfaction and joy. Traits that you might not even be aware of and come so naturally to you that someone else has to point them out to you.

If you have read some of my other blogs you will know that reading is an absolute passion of mine. And sure enough, ‘Love of Learning’ is one my top strengths!

So, what does all of this mean for you?

It means that you can use your signature strengths to be happier, at work and at home. And you can start right now!

Is your signature strength Love of Learning? Make sure that you find opportunities to learn something new every day. Read a book. Listen to a podcast or a TED talk. Find out something new at work. Be curious.

Is your strength ‘Perseverance’, and do you get real satisfaction out of finishing what you start? See if you can set up your day so that you can finish something every day. Make sure that you celebrate crossing something off your to-do list.

Is none of your signature strengths being satisfied at work? Actively go looking for opportunities to incorporate activities in your job that play to your key strengths.

Do you not know what your signature strengths are? Why not ask your colleagues? Or your friends? Let them tell you what you may have well overlooked (or have taken for granted).

So, what are YOUR strengths? And what can you do to use them every day?

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Do YOU want to use YOUR strengths in a career with Freedom, Flexibility and Fulfilment?

Sign up to my 5 Steps to Career Freedom mini-course now and take your first steps here:

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Tineke Tammes is an ICF credentialed Career Coach, who supports professional women in making successful transitions to careers of Freedom, Flexibility and Fulfilment! Besides that she is also a lifelong feminist, part-time portrait artist, never-only-read-one-book-at-any-time reader, and obsessive doodler. Oh, and she knows a bit about change management too.

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