Identifying your talents is the first step in putting them to work for you, even if at first they don’t seem aligned with your job.

Talents and skills are not necessarily the same thing, and the feeling that you’re not using your talents in your career can be a frustrating experience. Learning how to utilize your talents in your work will not only help you feel more settled and fulfilled, it also has the potential to excel your career and attract positive attention from peers and managers because you are showing a side of yourself that is unique and genuine.  

But first some term definitions. There are differing opinions on this, but when we’re talking about skills we are generally thinking about something that you learn and practice to perfect over a period of time. A talent, on the other hand, is something that you’re good at without practice. You might be skilled at organizing meetings that are concise and on schedule, whereas you may be talented at making everyone you meet feel welcomed by engaging in friendly conversation. 

Clearly defining your talents can take some time and effort, but it is well worth the journey. Here are four simple ways to assess and position your talents to get ahead in your career:

Step One: Take time to discover what your talents are

The first thing you need to do is think about your talents, writing everything that comes to mind down in a notebook. Don’t restrict yourself to listing the things that you’re good at that seem best suited for the workplace. Keep it big picture at this point. This is about discovering more about yourself. It’s easy to be shy because we’re conditioned to focus on those skills we have painstakingly perfected, not the things that come easily.

Questions you might ask yourself to get going:

• What are your favourite things to do in your free time?
• What is something that comes easy to you that you enjoy?

During this process, you may have the desire to talk to close friends and family members about where they think your talents lie. Conversations are great ways to get the ideas flowing, but don’t stop after hearing merely what someone else thinks. Use their comments as a stepping stone or supplement to your own reflections. 

Step Two: Fine-tune your list to three essential talents

Once you finish step one, you will likely have a number of things you feel you are talented at. Keep this list. While the idea of this exercise is not to integrate every single talent you have into your work, seeing a list of things you are good at is a great reference later on.

When you are in this stage, look at your talents and think about them. How do they make you feel, what is going on behind the scenes for you when you do this work. 

Identify three talents that feel essential to who you are. These talents will be your essence, your signature for how you approach your work.

Step Three: Look for alignment with your current job or competencies with a job you want in the future 

Now comes the fun part, looking to leverage your talents in a world where these things might not make the most sense at first.

Write down your three essential talents and brainstorm the associated skills you are utilizing when you put this talent to work. 

For instance, perhaps you’re talented at calming crying babies. No matter how upset a baby is, you are able to calm them down. While in most office environments, this talent would not be the most useful (we hope!), consider how you calm the baby down. Is it by speaking softly and gently? Is it by understanding that the baby has an unmet need and taking the time to identify it? This talent of being an angry baby whisperer is born out of a mix of incredible people skills. These skills can be used in the workplace when working on teams, managing staff, and building relationships.

Work through each of your essential talents until you are satisfied with your list of skills. Once you have this in your mind, you will now be able to utilize your talent in the workplace.

Step Four: Keep it going

Try this process every so often to refresh your stock of unusual talents. Remember, you have a big, long list of talents to reflect on. Revisit the talents on this list from time to time and look for opportunities to use them as you see fit.

By being mindful of one’s talents, you can tackle challenges and harness opportunities in new and unexpected ways.

Sometimes the answer to a challenge at work was in you the entire time, you just didn’t know it.