Flex those muscles

Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor… Thankfully there’s a little more variety these days. Variety? Flux is a better word. The big consultancies all predict vastly different careers landscapes within the next decade, let alone thereafter. Just for starters, PwC divides roles into red, yellow, green and blue work worlds, while McKinsey advocates focussing on cognitive, social, emotional and technological skillsets over more traditional vocational or technical competency frameworks and curricula…

In such a diverse world where paths are more individualised and tailored, it’s good to know what we’re great at. Or, maybe even better, what we’re prepared to be great at. Let’s come back to that one later.

First up, our current strengths. In our REALM model, along with skills, talents, and passions, strengths are part of Excellent – I get greater every day. When we’re looking at our way forward, even if it’s not for a new job or role, it helps to be clear about what we excel at. This isn’t a time to be humble – let’s celebrate our brilliance! However crazy or seemingly irrelevant they could be, listing out our strengths is a useful exercise in getting the brain juices flowing to generate paths we may never have considered. Or to discard options we’re frankly no good at.

Crucial to building out this self-awareness is reaching out to those who know us for a second opinion. Are we really that cool at, say, organising things or are we deluding ourselves? And what about the surprises? Those strengths in in the Johari window box which talks to what others know about us that we don’t?

Either way, it’s pretty much guaranteed there’ll be at least a few surprises in what comes back. It’s also certain that among all these attributes we’re wonderful at, there’ll be stuff that we don’t particularly enjoy. Being great at something doesn’t necessarily mean it lights our fire.

Which is where the second piece of the puzzle comes in. Which pursuits are we prepared to put the effort into to get great at and to continue getting greater at? A strength we’re keen on may not be something that’s a strength now. We’ve all heard of the 10,000 hours needed for mastery of a skill through application and practice. If we’re putting that much time into something – and not into something else – it’d better be worth it. Even on the days when we struggle and wrestle with it. When the sofa and the TV look so much more inviting.

And this is where a reality check comes in. It’s not just a question of launching into something purely because we love it. Somewhere down the line there has to be a practical application. Not necessarily a profit motivation, but certainly some application which talks to a value to the community in some form or fashion, some kind of contribution. We may be fantastic at sudoku, but how – yeah, let’s go big with this – how will our doing sudoku save the world? Compiling them to build others’ numeracy maybe? That’s a step at least…

Our strengths are one of the quadrants of the ikigai model we discussed in another Postcard (https://orangecairns.com/whats-your-ikigai/) . The four elements together – what I’m great at, what I love doing, what the world needs, and what I can be paid for – should help us generate our unique, fulfilling way forward.

Our passions may be the guiding light, but our strengths are the muscles that will take us along the path. Let’s flex them. 

orangecairns update

Our book – The Tribe of the Cowbells – Mapping Our REALM – is out for review with some amazing people. It’s a narrative story with self-reflection questions to help bring the REALM model to life in a simple context. We’re looking at publishing in December if all goes well. Fingers crossed!

Julian

I help people lead their own way forward