Your Unique Ability

You have talents. You have gifts. You have things that you do that are so easy to you, that other people marvel at them.

You might be able to recite an interesting fact from history. Or speak another language so well they think you were born there.

Whatever it is, it comes easily and naturally to you, and it’s difficult for other people.

An interesting thing about these gifts, is sometimes they come with pressure. I have always been athletic, and growing up this translated into playing hockey at a high level. I was pressured to maximize this athletic gift and play on teams, be the best, and get to the highest physical level I could.

To be honest, that didn’t really interest me all that much.

Sure, I liked the ability to do these things, but I didn’t love the sport. I could think of 20 or 30 different things I’d rather be doing than shooting pucks into a net in my spare time.

It’s interesting that you get put into a path by others, or even yourself, by your responses and choices you make in response to your gifts.

What you have to realize is the pressure of your talent is a good thing.

When you realize you have a gift, you should explore it.

If something comes easy to you, you should lean into that and find the limits of your talent.

For example, I have this ability to recognize patterns, to take the complex and simplify it. To start with the messy end, and work my way back to the precise beginning. Not only that, but I can take things from one field of study, and apply those learnings to another field of study. To take seemingly unrelated things, put them together, and make something greater.

So, how did I find my gift? I followed a process to find my ‘Unique Ability’. https://uniqueability.com/the-book/

This is an exercise to get feedback from others. It’s a difficult process. You have to be open and vulnerable, as part of it is asking those closest to you for feedback. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What do they see as your best traits, your strengths and abilities? You ask this to them in an email, then wait for their response.

Here is a simple 5 step framework to help you find your unique ability:

1. Ask yourself what are your passions and interests? What do you love doing? What topics or activities do you enjoy learning about? Your unique ability may be related to something that you are already interested in.
2. Think about your strengths and natural talents. Ask yourself what comes easily to you? What skills or abilities do you have that others don’t? What have people commented on and said ‘are you an ‘x” or ‘you should really do ‘y'”. Your unique ability may be something that you are naturally good at.
3. Review your past successes and achievements. What have you succeed at in the past? What tasks, projects, or activities have you completed that you feel particularly proud of? Your unique ability may be something that you have already demonstrated success in.
4. Ask for feedback from others: Ask your friends, family, and colleagues for their perspective on your strengths and abilities. This is hard, and humbling work, but provides excellent feedback for you. Those closest to you may see your blind spots, and may be able to provide insights into your unique ability that you may not have considered.
5. Still not sure? Experiment and try new things that you think you could be good at. Don’t be afraid to take on new challenges, try something new, or stretch outside your comfort zone. This can help you discover new passions and abilities that you may not have known you had.

The most valuable part of this process that I did was asking for feedback. It was hard, nerve racking, and ego crushing.

It’s not easy to open yourself up to other people asking them for their honest feedback. Just hitting send on the emails was humbling, but worth it. I received amazing feedback from a variety of people. Peers, colleagues, and others shared their thoughts, but the feedback itself wasn’t enough. I had to compile it, put it into groups, and simplify into something that describes who I am.

Here’s what I came up with as a result of the feedback I received:

• I am curious about the world and I learn to adapt and change.
• I assess complex situations and creatively implement realistic and practical solutions.
• I have good values and communicate in a positive and caring way.
• I will be there for you.
• I am driven and I will persevere.

This is how I settled on my gifts. One of which is taking complex situations, and making them simple.

That’s actually the whole point of this blog. Life is complex, but if you follow a few rules, do a few things right, you can take shortcuts that took me, and others, decades to learn.

So what do you do with your gifts, once you discover what they are? There are a couple of things you can do:

1. First and foremost is nothing. You can simply continue on, doing what you’ve always done, and file it in your back pocket as ‘nice to know’.
2. Or you can decide to focus on your strengths, and make your gifts even stronger.

The primary way I believe you can contribute the most to this world is by using your strengths to help others.

There’s an old saying, ‘help enough people get what they want, and they will all work together to help you get everything you want.’ So you can use your gifts to help others, and if you get good enough, you can build your life around your gifts.

You can charge money for people to learn from you and you can teach them about their own gifts. This is the summit.

You helping them, help others, which in turn helps you.