A compliment doesn't say everything about your talent

Talents play a trick on you. Most of the time you don't recognize them. Just because they are so normal to you. I've worked on the skills I controlled and developed, rather than my talents. Do you use your talents to their fullest?

Yes, this title might make you think. Whenever you receive a compliment about something you did well, doesn't mean this is your talent. I will tell you a personal story. About ten years ago, when I worked for my employer, I organized multiple events based on a certain theme. These went well and I received many compliments. Still something was bothering me. I didn't really experience any pleasure in being successful. I remember this was a moment on which I realized "I know I can do this, but I don't want to anymore".

Receiving a compliment is always a nice feeling. And in a certain way it does point towards your talents. For example, tasks that make you fly because they just seem to happen and work out. However, it is quite the journey to figure out if you do this from the heart, your talents or because people expected certain things when you were younger. Or maybe you took a job that pays well and gives you status, but it slowly drains you because you can't express and develop yourself fully.

If you can utilize your talents in your work, you fly. Do you know your talents?

Talent? This is just normal, right?

Talents play a trick on our brain. We tend not to recognize them ourselves. What you do is just normal, right? What you do well, you do easily. This while we associate talents with high intensity and memorable results. However, you can have talent for numerous things. This makes you unique. In my practice I helped a young man who is at the point of choosing his study. Since he was 14 he knows he wants to study psychology and passed the exams for admission at the UvA. He considered to change his study to Business School. The admission exams were fairly easy, so this study couldn't be that interesting, could it? The fact that he out performed almost 2.000 people was lost on him. We had a deep conversation about his talents. In the end, he will start his Psychology study at the UvA in September.

If I don't do it, nobody will

Doing what you do well, or working with your talents is a big difference. Since my youth I experience this inner voice that says "if I don't do it, nobody will". From the perspective of a child, this made sense. In hindsight it is conceivable, but not necessarily true. However, it did make me take charge since my early years. I took responsibility and arrange affairs for others. This went well and eventually turned into 15 years of working in management. At one point I was done. During my study to become a coach I learned the difference between being good at tasks or actually having fun doing them. Now I'm in charge of myself, and I already find that taxing enough.

Do you know your talents?

In organizations where I coach teams to perform better, work together in harmony and talk to people individually we end up talking about talents. Do you know your talents? Do you have the guts to choose using them? Can you openly talk to your manager or team about your the skills you lack or are you afraid to do so? Are you tired, stuck, demotivated? The cause is often found in the fact that you spend too little time on things you are good at. Or that you work in an environment where you can't flourish.

In the TMA talentanalysis that I offer, you gain insight in yourself. We discuss these results and make sure you will get more compliments about your talents!