Finding Your Superpowers

January 11, 2022 | ChangingCourse.com

What are your unique gifts and talents?

Each of us has superpowers—gifts and talents that are unique to us—but too many of us don’t know what they are. As a result, we may struggle with uncertainty about what to pursue professionally especially when we have that entrepreneurial yearning.

You may have taken one of the many personality profile or leadership style assessments including Myers Briggs, DISC Model, the Birkman, Enneagram, or others.

These tools are all very useful in describing personality traits or the ways that you interact with teams. However, they don’t generally give us insights into our gifts and talents.

Enter CliftonStrengths from Gallup, (yes, they are the TV polling people) an assessment based on over three decades of research across 50 countries.

Although it’s called CliftonStrengths (formerly Clifton StrengthsFinder), it does not measure strengths, rather it measures the presence of talents in 34 themes that fall into four domains. While talents naturally exist within individuals, strengths must be developed and are the product that results when one’s talents are refined with acquired skills and knowledge.

These assessments do come at a cost. You can learn about your top 5 talents ($19.95 most popular) or the order of all 34 talents ($49.95).  As an alternative, you can purchase the book, which comes with a redeemable code for the top 5 talents and has the benefit of providing you with more information about each strength.

Knowing your CliftonStrengths (gifts and talents) will explain how you are uniquely powerful, provide an increased awareness about the types of tasks you like best and why you like them, and may help you to recognize which opportunities to pursue.

To Your Big Dreams,

Money Making Idea: Birth and Death Commemoratives

Commemoratives are items that honor or show respect for a particular occasion. Two of the most important occasions in our lives are when a new child joins the family through birth or adoption and when we suffer the loss of a loved one.  

A generation ago, people commonly placed a lock of their baby’s hair in an inscribed container or bronzed the baby’s first shoes. An inscribed bronze urn was also commonplace for cremated family members. 

Today, creativity and science may have that lock of hair or some of your loved ones ashes incorporated into the production of the commemorative piece.  

For inspiration on commemoratives, check out these sites: 

Finding an Audience and Selling Your Products

  • For birth commemoratives, develop relationships with Obstetricians’ offices, Pediatricians’ offices, or places that have New Mom groups (in-person or online). Pinterest is also a great place to reach new moms. 
  • For death commemoratives, develop relationships with churches, funeral homes, grief management groups. 

To sell your products, consider listing on Etsy, Facebook marketplace, or Ebay. Alternatively, you can create your own online store with Wix, SquareSpace, or Shopify

Is this what’s holding you back?

LIMITING THOUGHT

I Don’t Give Myself the Love, Compassion, and Understanding I Give to Others

You are a compassionate, kind, and loving person toward others. When someone makes a mistake, you are gracious toward them, understanding that everyone makes mistakes. But you don’t treat yourself in the same way. 

For some reason, you don’t believe that you deserve the same love, compassion, grace, and understanding that you give to others.

Your limiting belief is that you should be perfect, and if you’re not perfect you feel like you need to punish yourself. When you make a mistake, you endlessly berate yourself, feeling like you shouldn’t have made it. You’re not compassionate and gracious toward yourself. 

NEW THOUGHT

I Deserve the Same Grace, Love, Compassion, and Patience I Give to Others

You are human. You make mistakes, and that’s okay. You don’t have to be perfect. There will be times when you’re not as productive or don’t get as much done, and there’s nothing wrong with that. 

Your new belief is that you deserve the same grace, compassion, love, and patience that you extend to others. You are patient with others. Be patient with yourself. You are loving toward others. Be loving toward yourself.

Your mantra this week is: I deserve the same grace, love, compassion, and patience I give to others.

What We’re Reading

I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t): Making the Journey from “What Will People Think?” to “I Am Enough” is really the book we should have recommended last week for those who focus too much on what other people think. The author, Brené Brown, is a favorite of ours because she asks us to examine issues of shame that can hold us back and how being vulnerable under the right circumstances can free us.

Staying with Brené Brown, her book, The Gifts of imperfection is another great read that, when the lessons are put into practice, will allow you to embrace giving yourself the grace, love, compassion and patience that you give to others.