How to identify what you are really good at and position yourself to pursue opportunities that demand your skills

Skills
Wisdom is knowing what to do next. Skill is knowing how to do it. Virtue is doing it. (David Starr Jordan)

“Just as companies and businesses evolve to the next level over time—depending with what is envisioned by the founders in terms of where they want to go, and what they want to offer in the market—so do your personal skills,” the presenter said at a meeting I recently attended in town. 

“I didn’t know that,” the lady seated next to me whispered rather loudly, and I just smiled back at her, nodding my head vigorously in agreement, while stretching my lower lip forward and thinking how the statement made a lot of sense.   

During the meeting we learned that your ability to perform certain tasks well is known as skills.  Skills can be categorized into four.  Basic skills that include reading and writing, people skills that help you to get along with others, management skills which come in handy when it comes to keeping track of things like time and money, and technical skills that enable you to perform certain specialized tasks.  

The good thing about skills is that, although they are natural abilities that you possess, they can also be learned over time.  Which means that it is possible to learn new skills or to improve existing ones, simply through practice and training.  So, how do you take stock of your skills to know the ones you have, but most importantly, to identify paramount additional skills you need to acquire —so that you can be well positioned to engage in life improvement and more rewarding opportunities?  

  1. Ask a trusted friend (not just anyone) to tell you your strengths. 
  2. Think of a time when you performed a particular task very well.  What was the task and why do you think you managed to succeed? 
  3. List down the skills you would like to develop in order to achieve more in life.
  4. Identify steps you need to take to fill in the gap (what you identified in point 3 above). 
  5. Match your skills to opportunities you aspire to pursue now or in the near future—for example starting a business, or changing professions, you name it, and apply the new-found skills to propel you into a new and exciting chapter of your life. 

Yes you can!