Your Greatest Strengths Are Invisible to You - Here’s Why

🎧Have you ever noticed that the things you excel at most feel so natural to you that you assume everyone else can do them just as easily?

Because something comes naturally to you, you assume it's "no big deal." But that invisible sweet spot is exactly what your next employer or client is desperately looking for and willing to pay premium dollars to access.

Inside this episode, you’ll discover:

• Why your most valuable talents are the ones you routinely ignore.
• The danger of the "it’s easy for me, so it’s worthless to others" trap.
• How to identify your unique professional sweet spot and package your hidden strengths into a premium asset.

💼 Ready to see what you've been missing? Let’s audit your professional track and map out your true potential together. Book your 1:1 Clarity Kickstart Strategy Session with Carole:

https://stan.store/RyCath/p/book-a-11-clarity-kickstart-strategy-session-

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What are your hidden strengths and why are yours invisible to you? Well, that's what we'll be discussing today on Clarity with Carol. I'm so happy to have you here today on the podcast. Really, the strengths that will transform your career are the ones that you've been dismissing as just how I've always done it. That's just how I am. And sometimes it's a little bit more than that. So today we're going to be doing a deep dive into why your most powerful abilities are often the ones that you overlook. You overlook them, you minimize them, and often take them for granted. So a couple of talking points we're going to look into. The first is the psychology of strength blindness. It's just too easy, right? So the idea there is that you don't value what you naturally have coming to you. It's a task that feels effortless. You assume that everyone can do it. And so you write it off as not a real skill. Well, I want you to think about that. So if you're at work and where someone hands you a really massive or chaotic problem and you fix it out and you map it out in 15 minutes, well, what does that tell you? So if it could be something like they say thank you, but you probably are like, oh, don't worry about it. It was nothing. So I want you to stop right there because it wasn't nothing. It was nothing to you, but it might be a mountain to them. And that's the exact definition of a hidden strength. Your zone or your sweet spot may not feel like hard work at all. It just may feel like breathing. So a few things you want to think about are competencies versus a core strength. You can be an incredible project manager. You could be mastering all of the spreadsheets or execution like a rock star, but when you log off at five o'clock, you feel completely empty. You're running on fumes and it's a competency, but it's not aligned to your true strength. So when we try to have it all by doubling down on things that we're merely good at, we run straight into burnout. So some of the things that you need to think about and some questions you might want to ask yourself is what am I doing right now in my career that I'm praised for, but secretly wish I never had to do again? So there's something called the fish and water phenomenon that you might want to think about. If you ask a fish to describe its environment, the last thing that they're going to mention is water. And that's because it's surrounded by it. So if you are surrounded by your own natural talents, then that's something that you might want to be completely immersed in from your own perspective. So something that you might want to think about is to really take a really good look at what your strengths are. So rather than take another corporate personality test, instead, why don't you do some career auditing? So let's look back at the last three to five years. Think about the projects that gave you an absolute adrenaline rush, not just the ones that you got the bonus or the ones that gave you the time that flew by, but that you felt completely alive. I look at the strengths as being something that's in your sweet spot, something that you really enjoy that just makes you feel alive and you're thriving. And then when you look back on it, you're like, oh my God, that was amazing. And so if you were to really think about something that was recently assigned to you or that you got involved with, and it doesn't have to really be in the corporate world. It could be out of something that you're doing in your community. It could be a hobby that you have, but it's something that brings you alive, something that you feel amazing at and that you look back on and you think, boy, I did that like the back of my hand, but not the stuff that drains you. It's the stuff that you just really enjoyed. And if somebody said thank you to doing that, you're like, oh, no problem. And you think of why it's no problem, because it's just something that you enjoy doing, that you did quickly perhaps, um, or that really gave you that certain thrill. So I want to share a couple of stories with you. Um, you know, one of the things that I love to do as my sweet spot is that I got this eye, you know, where I see what it is that people uh could probably be doing right in their career or a little bit more into um maybe, you know, turning something into a business. And for some reason, I just always see someone's potential a little bit more than they can. And sometimes I see what they are looking at one year ahead from now. Uh, and it takes a little bit of time and convincing. But let me share some stories with you. So the first one, um, I recently saw a posting of someone on Facebook who was uh just right into outdoor gardening, uh putting together homemade trellis, um, just had such a green thumb and someone that really worked in the garden and was just amazing. Uh, and they just had such a beautiful and natural talent. And I looked at that and I'm like, oh my God, why don't you slap a magnet on the side of your car, put something out there that you're available in the local neighborhood to help people with their gardens and help it look beautiful and beautify the situation. You could put two hours in a day and help someone who does not have that skill at all or is looking for some extra help. And I have to tell you that that will really, really go a long way. And so that kind of skill, let's say, that is more than a competency. It's the strength that that person has would bring such joy to themselves, but also to others that just don't know what to do with that. So that's one that I thought of recently. I also have another friend who is um amazing in the kitchen. So every time I go over, and sometimes, you know, I drop by, let's say on a Sunday afternoon, um, he will test a new recipe with me. And I just love it. I just and I'm I'm amazed and perplexed, I gotta be honest with you, how he comes up with all these new recipes. He tests things and it just gives him joy. You know, he puts it together and I'm like, you should really have a YouTube channel. I mean, I was telling him that you should you have got all your recipes, you could show photos, you could explain to people how to do the videos. And I I take home his recipes all the time and use them and they come out fabulously. And I was saying, you know, that's a strength that someone has, not a competency. This is a full-on strength where he could spend two hours putting something together and he will find such joy in doing that. Uh, but you know, here I am saying that that would be great for him for something to do. But I would say that he has found something that is is a really, really important thing for him too. Um, and then other areas like in the corporate world, um, I, you know, just like I'm doing podcasting here, I do see people that do that. They have, let's say, communication plans at work or they put out the local newsletters or the podcasts in their in their company. Um, I always see how terrific they're doing that. And they have such a natural strength and skill, they come across so genuinely. Um, I love seeing that. And I do believe that those are things that bring the greatest joy to people in their lives. So I encourage you, if you've got something, and I want you to sit down, I want you to think about it a little bit. If there's something that you do, like the back of your hand, write it down, take a little audit of what you've been doing over the last, let's say, three to five years, and take note of the things that really gave you joy, something that made you feel good, um, that you thought was a, you know, a strength of yours, but you might be taking for granted. Doesn't even appear on your resume, something that you just sort of do, and it's a natural talent that you have. But I want you to determine what value you get from that. And is that something that you can run with? Is that something that can lead you to either a new role that you have or an expanded role that you have, whether it's in a corporate world, or that's something that you're interested in doing to start your own business and you want to put it out there just like I'm doing here in terms of the podcast? I would say if you're interested in doing that, but you struggle with how it is that you want to determine your value, please do me a favor in the link below. Why don't you sign up for Carol's Clarity Strategy session? It's a kickstart session that I'd be happy to do with you. Spend some time. It is my sweet spot when I can see and talk with someone that just, you know, has incredible opportunity and capabilities, strengths that are beyond this world. And I would love the opportunity to be able to help and see what we can do there. So please on the link below. And if you haven't done already, please link to our subscribe button. And I hope that what we covered here today for the topic is something that you will find valuable and useful every day. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for joining Clarity with Carol, and I look forward to the next one. Take care.