Over the course of my career, I have worn a few different hats. I was trained as a classroom teacher and began my career in 2001. Boy, that was a rough year! It seemed like each day I started over in so many ways as I learned more about myself and the kids in my classroom. I had a few wins, don’t get me wrong. I liked teaching, I loved agriculture, but classroom management, parents, finding ways to meet the needs of 32 different students in one room with various learning styles, was not as easy as I thought it would be. I didn't love it.
15 years later, I am at a point where I am spending my time doing more of the things I love, and I have created opportunities for myself to use my time and TALENTS in a way that leaves me satisfied and fulfilled. This didn’t happen overnight. I am still a classroom teacher, specifically on Mondays and Wednesdays. I love teaching and I am an educator every day of the week. I am alway coaching, and I am always trying to find ways to help students, clients, friends and family discover their own talents, and meet their goals, personally and professionally.
So how do you know if you are in the right place, professionally. Are you loving it?
Ask yourself two questions :
1. What do I get paid to do?
2. What do I love to do?
Hopefully, your answers are the same or similar. If they are not, perhaps we have some work to do. I know, I know, you don’t have 15 years to figure this stuff out.
Here are 5 clues to talent that will help you decide whether you are investing your time and talents wisely at work.
Yearning:
Is there a specific activity that you are drawn to over and over? If you had 2 “free” days at work where you could choose any project or program to work on with no pressure, what would it be? Now, ask yourself, are you spending most of your time in your role, working on those types of things? You should be feeding that “yearning” inside of you.
Satisfaction :
How often do you say “I can’t wait to do that again!”? Most often, we find the most pleasure at work in the areas where we are using our strengths. If you spend a good bit of your time wishing and dreaming about that next time in the far off distance when you get to do that one awesome thing that you knocked out of the park, maybe your current role is not fully employing what you have to offer.
Rapid Learning:
What activities do you pick up easily with little instruction? Are there things you would rather do on your own and even have difficulties explaining to others? When learning comes fast for you in a certain area, you are working in your wheelhouse.
Glimpses of Excellence:
How often are you being recognized for excellence? It could be that your manager just isn’t great at providing you with the feedback you need after a job well done. It could also be that you are not consistently involved in work where your talents are shining. Talk to a coach, a personal friend, a colleague about this. Remember that blog I wrote about a Personal Board of Directors? Ask those folks what you are known for doing really well. Sometimes we need to be reminded, especially if its not happening at work.
Total Performance Excellence:
When you are at work, how often do you look at your phone and your afternoon has literally escaped you? How many days of the week do you feel like you are totally in your zone? In that zone, is an amazing place to be.
It might be a bit impractical to expect that every day of your life, you will work in a state of true professional bliss. Unless you write your own job description or work for yourself, chances are, there will be duties assigned that you don't find satisfying and you are not in love with, that is okay. However, If you aren’t spending a majority of the week working in a way that taps into your talents, you aren’t committed to your own potential for excellence.