Your Strengths, Your Super Power
“No one is you and that is your superpower.”
We’ve all heard this empowering quote before right? I love the heart behind it because over the past several years I have come to believe it to be true - about others and the harder part, even about myself.
When you’re feeling stuck, it can be hard to believe that being uniquely you is a super power, so if you’re in this place, try this quick shift: look at a friend that you love and see it to be true in her. If you can see it in her, take the leap to believing it’s in you too, because it is. And if you still don’t believe - go ask that friend you thought of to tell you why they think you’re so great.
So if we are our own super power, then it makes sense to prioritize pausing our busy lives to pay attention, right? If we pause, we can figure out the way we’re wired, lean into our strengths, take note of the life learnings we’ve earned & utilize our experiences. But where do we start? There are lots of options. These have been some of the most helpful to me personally:
StrengthsFinder - This is a really great tool if you’re in a place where you’re wondering what to do with your career or looking for a transition. I started taking the StrengthsFinder test in my mid-20’s & continued to take it every few years for almost a decade. Three of my strengths stayed consistent over the years, while the rest molded to the roles I took on in those seasons. Pretty cool and helpful. Here is a link to the book, which includes a test code.
Enneagram - This was meaningful to me during a time in my life when I had a lot of conflict. I wanted to figure out why I was showing up the way I was and diving into the enneagram did it for me. I learned so much about myself, including the ways I show up when I’m healthy & the red flags that show up in my thoughts when I’m moving to an unhealthy place. Here is a link to a free test, plus search Instagram for some really great enneagram-focused accounts.
Mostly recently, I did the not so fun work to discover my aptitudes, along with Cohort Two. What is an aptitude you might ask? It’s a natural ability to do something, so it is not based on preferences or behaviors. The fabulous team at True Compass walked us through our results and through understanding those, I made some immediate changes to the way I was running my team, in addition to learning some really helpful key factors about the way I’m wired.
For example, I learned through our work with True Compass that I have high idea productivity, which means that I have a continuous stream of sometimes related and frequently unrelated ideas running through my head. If I put myself in a box, I would say - I struggle to focus (hello, entrepreneurship). But when I see the gray area of this super strength of mine, I know that I can put certain measures in place to help me focus. Some of these include brain dumping thoughts & ideas on a Post-It note, using a page called “Brain Dump” in the Notes app on my iPhone or creating an “Ideas” Google doc, instead of acting on any of the ideas the flow through my brain that are unrelated to the task at hand.
Regardless of how you decide to discover your superpowers, here are some questions from the True Compass team that you can ask after any tool you use:
What are my natural strengths?
Where do I see my strengths being used in my work?
What strengths currently have no outlet?
What are my blindspots?
What can I put into action, knowing more about my strengths?
Want to continue this conversation? Email me at audra@thethreadwlc.com! Or slip into The Thread’s Instagram DM’s (@thethreadwlc) & tell me what resonated with you when diving into your strengths. Looking forward to connecting with you soon!