Identify your talents: Love+ability

Your talents are the sum of what you do better than other people and what you love doing. If you try too hard to stick to a skills list or job description, you may lose sight of your talents and neglect your unique contribution. Use these four steps to unearth your hidden talents.

Based on

Love + Work
by Marcus Buckingham (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022).

1/ Pay attention to what grabs your attention

School and then the workplace force you to focus on a particular course of study and imposed objectives. Forget these obligations and try to discover what attracts you spontaneously.

Spot the faint signals amid the noise. The details or information that only you can spot are clues to your talents.

In his gym class as a young man, Marcus Buckingham realized that he was the only person with the ability to see particular behaviors in his fellow students. A few years later, he became a behavioral psychologist. In other words, Buckingham was able to convert his gift into a profession. What can you see that those around you can’t?

Look for the flow. Cast your mind back to those occasions when time stood still for you, when you experienced an activity as a harmonious and fluid whole. What talents did you use then?

A hotel concierge loves seeing the approach of dissatisfied customers. His senses are on full alert to find the best possible solution.

Be curious. You probably haven’t discovered the full scope of your talents. Try out new projects, new activities or new ways of doing things. Expose yourself to novel situations so you can see whether they reveal unsuspected talents.