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For example, it may be they are trying to do well as an engineer when they are more gifted at sales.

Or they think they might be a good accountant when they are more talented in teaching others.

Other times people believe they can do well in any job regardless of the skills required to excel in that job. As long as the job is a “promotion” they want the job.

The problem is we try to make ourselves good at something God did not design us to do well. Part of this is the value we place on certain types of work or certain skills. We would rather be a mediocre attorney than an exceptional plumber.

This can come from family pressure, societal pressure, or a host of other influences that shape our thinking about the value of certain types of work.

The key to overcoming this sort of thinking is to focus on the special skills, talents, and abilities you have rather than trying to shoe horn ourselves into a particular role.

Work that is out of alignment with your best skills and abilities will eventually be unfulfilling and you’ll never experience the level of success in a job you otherwise would have.

This quote attributed to Albert Einstein sums up what will happen:

“Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it’ll spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein

We certainly don’t want that, so take some time to inventory what you do well – maybe better than anyone you know.

Ask yourself what special skills and natural abilities has God given you? What desires keep coming up in your heart of hearts? Do you find yourself most attracted to working with people, things, or data? Do you like to create something new or use an established method to solve a problem?

It can be difficulty to view our career choices without the filter of our family, culture, religion, or philosophical viewpoints.

But what if no one was watching? What if you could be a florist and no one cared? What if you could sell your drawings on ebay and no one would think you’re crazy?

What possibilities would that open up for your work and your life?

Question: Imagine you wake up tomorrow and you were doing work that was an absolute perfect fit with your best skills and abilities. What would be the first thing you notice that’s different for you?

All I knew was that I liked being able to get out of school to go to a nice hotel with free pastries for a day of peer counselor training.

It turned out the training helped us learn some skills to counsel other kids who were dealing with problems they didn’t want to talk about with adults.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, this would be the spark that made me aware of my ability to counsel others and help them solve their problems.

I wish I could say I realized my life’s passion at that moment and everything was downhill from that point. Not so much.

However, being encouraged to use some skills I had never tried before would allow me to explore skills that were linked to my eventual passion.

From that time until now I’ve discovered you need three kinds of skills in order to love your work.

1. Skills you enjoy using. What kinds of tasks do you enjoy? Personally, I don’t enjoy fixing things around the house. If something breaks and I have to get my toolbox my wife gets nervous. (She calls me Cliff Huxtable) However, I love to write about careers and helping people do work they love. Two different skill sets and two different levels of enjoyment. If you don’t enjoy using a particular skill, even if you’re good at it, you’ll still be off the mark in regard to your ideal career.

2. Skills you are competent in using. This past winter our shower was having problems and I tried to fix it. I ended up spending two hours on something that would have probably taken a plumber five minutes to fix. I was soaking wet and frustrated beyond belief. Needless to say I’m not very good with my hands. In order to enjoy a skill you usually need to be fairly competent in using that skill.

3. Skills that are marketable. You can be good at something and you can enjoy doing it, but you must have a customer for that skill. Whether that customer is an employer or someone who purchases directly from you there must be a market for what you provide with your skills.

Be aware that if you only have two of the three components you will still be out of alignment with your ideal career. You must have a combination of all three.

When you find the sweet spot that combines all three components you will experience work that is rewarding and enjoyable. Something very few experience today.

Question: Do you have all three components in your current work? If not, what could you do to get all three?

There are two pieces you need to know and understand in regard to your skills.

Photo Credit: Alfonsina Blyde » via Compfight

The first piece is knowing the current skills you possess. The second piece has to do with understanding your level of enjoyment using specific skills you currently posses or skills you want to learn in the future.

However, the dilemma is we often don’t really know how to figure out which skills we currently have or want to obtain and enjoy using.  

This could be due to a number of issues.

Some may not have a lot of experience at this point in their career. If you’re just coming into the workforce you really haven’t had a lot of time to try your hand at different tasks to develop a range of skills.

Others may be too hard on themselves. Maybe you think you’re not very skilled in anything – you’re just mediocre. You discount the skills you possess because you don’t feel very good at them in comparison to others.

Maybe you’re not sure what it feels like to enjoy using a skill. Maybe you’ve been in a job that has been a poor fit for you for some time or your exposure to a broad range of skills has been lacking.

If you find yourself in this situation here are four ideas to help you gain greater understanding of your skills:

1. Take an inventory. Take a look at ONet’s Skills Search. It groups skills into skill families and can be a good place to start when you have no clue which skills you have and/or enjoy using. To help you determine which skills you have and/or enjoy using try iseek.org’s assessment. It aligns with the ONet skills search.

2. Ask friends for feedback. As with many things in life, sometimes we’re just too close to the situation to recognize our skills. Take a few friends to lunch (be sure to pick up the tab) and ask them to give you feedback on the skills they see you using well.

3. Pick something and try it. If you’re not sure which skills you may enjoy using in the future, think of an activity (at work or volunteer opportunity) that is outside your current day to day tasks. Then find a way to experiment with that task to use a new skill. For example, if you currently spend most of your day at work focused on numbers and data find an opportunity to attend a community outreach event sponsored by your company where you’ll be focused on people.

4. Use skills you already have in another setting. Maybe you’re a high school teacher who’s burned out, however, you know you still enjoy helping others learn. Find a way to teach adults. Maybe in a night school setting or at a community college. Find out if you still enjoy using your teaching skills in a slightly different environment.

Knowing more about the current skills you posses and the ones you enjoy using are part of the process that leads to finding your passion. It may not solve the riddle for you but it’s the necessary glue to connect the pieces of the mosaic of your passion.

Question: How else might someone gain a greater understanding of their skills?