People's natural strengths don't change. You are born with certain natural skills, abilities, tendencies, strengths, weaknesses, and talents. These emerge in early life and usually crystallize in your late teens. They do not change very much over the course of your lifetime.

One of the most important steps you can take in your career is to identify what it is you are really good at, or what you can become good at, and then put your whole heart into becoming excellent in that area. The very best way to develop yourself is in the direction of your natural talents and interests. You are put on this earth with special talents and abilities that make you unique and different from all other people who have ever lived.

Throughout your life, you have often found yourself drawn to an area of activity where your special talents and abilities have enabled you to accomplish more and to enjoy what you are doing at a higher level than anything else you could do. One of your great goals in life is to identify and isolate the two or three skills that you can do better, and enjoy more, than anything else, and then concentrate on becoming absolutely excellent in those areas.

Yet, most people have spent less time considering what their strengths might be than cleaning their tennis shoes. Embark today on a research program on you! Start by taking stock of your strengths and orienting your career choices around them - here are some questions to help you focus on your best areas:

Q1. How would you describe success in your current role? Can you measure it?

Q2. What do you actually do that makes you as good as you are? What does this tell you about your skills, knowledge, and talents?

Q3. Which part of your current role do you enjoy the most?

Why?

Q4. Which part of your current role are you struggling with?

What does this tell you about your skills, knowledge, and talent? What can we do to manage around this? Training? Positioning? Support system?

Q5. Partnering? What would be the perfect role for you?

Imagine you are in that role. It's three p.m. on a Thursday. What are you doing?

Why would you like it so much?

Ask these questions about every three or months, to get yourself thinking in detail about your performance. These five questions won't necessarily provide the answers. But, asked in the right way, at the right time, they will help you focus your thoughts to reach a few firm conclusions about your present performance and your potential.

You can also ask others.  Have a cup of coffee with somebody whose opinion you value and whose confidentiality you respect. Ask the following questions:

1.  What do you consider to be my main gift or skill?

2.  Can you think of any steps I could take to use that skill more effectively?

3.  Am I in the right organization?

4.  Does my organization have a process that allows discovery of people’s hidden strengths?

5.  Where do you feel I could be of most value in my organization?

6.  Is there a skill that my organization needs and that I could acquire?

Now, click here for practical steps/questions to enable you to put your strengths to work.