Page 121 - Talane Miedaner - Coach Yourself to a New Career_ 7 Steps to Reinventing Your Professional Life (2010)

STEP 4: IDENTIFY YOUR NATURAL TALENTS AND ABILITIES 109

may mean you give Joe a single project to focus on while Jane gets
three at once. The extroverts may respond well to the open floor
plan, but make sure you have some quiet office spaces far from the
crowd in which introverts can hunker down. Why not try some-
thing really radical and ask your employees what they need to do
their best work and then provide that?
The simple exercises you completed are a remarkably good
way to get some insight into your unique talents and abilities, but
that effort may not be sufficient for everyone. If you feel satisfied
that you’ve found your talent or natural gift, that’s super. Pursue
it with everything you’ve got. If not or if you are still a bit unsure
or hesitant, you may want to consider taking some computer-
ized assessments such as the StrengthsFinder Profile and/or The
Highlands Program. Seeing the results confirmed in black and
white on an objective, computerized report often helps us real-
ize that we aren’t just kidding ourselves and that yes, we do have
a real ability that is worth investing time, money, and energy in
developing. I always recommend that my clients take these online
assessments before investing thousands of dollars and years of
time in advanced training and education.
I was recently working with a young woman who had post-
poned going to a university because she wasn’t sure what she
should study. We did The Highlands Program and in two and
a half hours confirmed that she does indeed have a natural and
strong ability in artistic and creative design. She confessed that
she loved design work and had thoroughly enjoyed doing layouts
and artwork but wasn’t sure that she was good enough to pursue it
or that she could make a decent living. I reminded her that Andy
Warhol was an extremely successful artist and assured her that
even if she wasn’t a famous artist, she could still make a good liv-
ing doing creative work such as Web design, graphic design, or
magazine layouts—doing something she truly loved. Seeing her
assessment results spelled out on paper made her realize that her
talent wasn’t a fantasy. This realization has given her the confi-
dence to pursue what she secretly wanted to do all along—art!