by Marcus Buckingham, Donald O. Clifton
by Susan Dunn, Emotional Intelligence coach:
-- in her newsletter, Sep 10 2003 :
two management experts propose the theory that if
you work in your strength areas, you can perform
consistently and effortlessly at a near perfect
level and find great satisfaction without a whole
lot of stress.
heaven on earth, doesn't it? Well, here are some
ways to discover your strengths.
+ skill + knowledge = strengths.
how can you figure out your innate talents are?
You can buy their book and take the
StrengthsFinders profile. It will give you your
top 5 signature themes and they're such things as:
Achiever, Self-assurance, Relator, Empathy, Focus,
Analytical or Strategic.
of approaching life rather than qualities such as
"courage" or "bravery," or fields of knowledge
such as "math" or "English," or particular
talents, such as "writing" or "singing."
Think about what you liked to do as a child.
Talents are innate; they appear early. ...
Ask your parents what you liked to do as a child.
Keep in mind that your parents were human, and
they had their own "issues." For instance, I have
a client whose father thought he shouldn't be a
minister, and degraded all his natural talents for
ministry. It's hard to buck such parental
pressure. However, you always get a second chance!
can't recognize what they don't know. A
mathematical genius born to two English majors may
never get reinforcement for his talents, no
affirmation and no guidance. As an adult, you can
do this for yourself.
Think about what you like to do when you have a
choice. What do you do in your spare time? What do
you do on Sunday afternoon?