What is your special skill?
Where does that skill come from?
I was recently asked these questions as part of a thoughtfulness exercise and was surprised to realize that I hadn’t ever really thought deeply about it. I think we so often spend time thinking about our weaknesses and the areas we want to improve that we don’t always focus on how to leverage our most fundamental strengths.
When trying to come up with an answer the first place I went to was “what would my wife, friends, coworkers, etc. say is my special skill?”
The answer that immediately sprang to mind was my storytelling ability.
I have a deep love of and proclivity towards telling stories. Communicating through narrative structures is what comes most evidently (as will come as no surprise to readers of this blog).
This answer wasn’t a big surprise, but where my storytelling prowess came from was.
I ruminated on the prime driver behind my love of storytelling and the answer that jumped out was the importance of being heard.
Why is storytelling so important to me? Why do I crave opportunities to share my and others’ stories?
It all stems from the value I place on being heard. For both myself and others.
At times in my life, I have felt like I wasn’t heard. That I didn’t have a voice. Those early exposures to a lack of empowerment clearly left a long-lasting impression on me. They left me with a chip on my shoulder. They shaped who I am and the strengths that I have sought to build in myself.
It’s important to me that I and others feel heard. It’s why I love telling stories. Stories allow me to shine the light on experiences that they deserve.
This deeper analysis of where a personal strength comes from is something that never occurred to me until I took the time to really think through underlying drivers and question myself. In general, I am a pretty self-aware person (sometimes painfully so), but this kind of deeper analysis is something I intend to spend more time doing and I suggest you do the same.
It is critically important to understand our “why”.
What moves us.
What shapes us.
What spurs us forward and what holds us back.
We will never be able to grow to all that we can be if we don’t take the time to understand ourselves.
So—
What is your special skill?
Where does it come from?