Something struck me the other day. I was walking by the river having an illicit break when I was stopped in my tracks by a swan. He (possibly she) was standing on the towpath looking straight at me. I had no option but to look straight back. The swan held my gaze balefully, then turned and waddled off back down to the riverbank. I watched as it made its ungainly way back into the water. And then, in a moment everything changed. Gone, was the clumsy gait, the awkwardness, the struggle. Back in the water the bird metamorphosised in an instant into everything we know it to be - graceful, majestic, poised, beautiful.
This is how it is when we do the work that is right for us - its effortless, natural, enjoyable, easy. We even look great doing it! The flipside of course (and possibly the reason you're reading this) is that when we're not - it's a struggle. We feel out of synch, constrained, unexpressed. We don't enjoy it. We know we're in the wrong spot. We wonder why no one can see how talented we actually are. We're swans out of water and it doesn't feel good.
So what to do? Well the first and most obvious thing is to identify what you're naturally good at. What is it that you do best? We are all hard-wired for something. What is it you have an inbuilt ability for? Sometimes we know this instinctively. You may know that you're a good writer for example or that you're a great ideas person, or that you have an incisive mind. Or in fact all three. You yearn to express it, but in the job you're currently in you don't do so at all.
Other times it can be harder to know this so start looking for clues. Look for what comes effortlessly to you that other people seem to struggle with. The fact is we often don't notice what we're good at for that very reason - it's so easy, we don't even realise we're doing it! Instead we notice all the things that we find difficult, or that bore us or that we feel completely unmotivated to do. We quite literally overlook the very things that could bring us great satisfaction.
It sounds simple but it really does help to become consciously aware of what comes as second nature to you. Make a list of them. Talents are not just what we think of in the traditional sense i.e. singing, art or sport for example. One of my clients was insistent she was talentless (!), until it turned out that she is a brilliant listener, that people trust her and feel comfortable telling her just about anything, and that she brings out the best in those around her. She is now forging a career in the human development side of HR.
That's brings us to the next step. Working out where you could use these talents. Using the above example, my client may have chosen to be a counsellor, a social worker, a psychologist, even a lawyer amongst many many other things. Amongst the reasons she settled on HR was she wanted to be in a positive, developing team environment in the hub of the West End. A satisfying career is a combination of many factors - the environment that fits your personality being a key one. Put a swan that is used to the Thames in an enclosed pond and they're not going to be a happy cygnet. It may be that your perfect pond is right on your doorstep. You may love the company you work for, but dislike your role, which you find pedestrian and boring. So, tell them what you're good at, ask them what opportunities they could offer you, be sure they know what you want to do. Be proactive; show them what you're made of. When talent is used, it works for everybody. No organisation worth its salt, wants to be surrounded by a horde of hobbling swans.
Here's the thing - our swan KNOWS it can swim, that that is exactly what it's built for. But it had to make its way to the water before it could do so. It didn't waste any time on the towpath grumbling, it just got in. So there's only one thing for it - we have to get off the sidewalk and into the stream.
This is how it is when we do the work that is right for us - its effortless, natural, enjoyable, easy. We even look great doing it! The flipside of course (and possibly the reason you're reading this) is that when we're not - it's a struggle. We feel out of synch, constrained, unexpressed. We don't enjoy it. We know we're in the wrong spot. We wonder why no one can see how talented we actually are. We're swans out of water and it doesn't feel good.
So what to do? Well the first and most obvious thing is to identify what you're naturally good at. What is it that you do best? We are all hard-wired for something. What is it you have an inbuilt ability for? Sometimes we know this instinctively. You may know that you're a good writer for example or that you're a great ideas person, or that you have an incisive mind. Or in fact all three. You yearn to express it, but in the job you're currently in you don't do so at all.
Other times it can be harder to know this so start looking for clues. Look for what comes effortlessly to you that other people seem to struggle with. The fact is we often don't notice what we're good at for that very reason - it's so easy, we don't even realise we're doing it! Instead we notice all the things that we find difficult, or that bore us or that we feel completely unmotivated to do. We quite literally overlook the very things that could bring us great satisfaction.
It sounds simple but it really does help to become consciously aware of what comes as second nature to you. Make a list of them. Talents are not just what we think of in the traditional sense i.e. singing, art or sport for example. One of my clients was insistent she was talentless (!), until it turned out that she is a brilliant listener, that people trust her and feel comfortable telling her just about anything, and that she brings out the best in those around her. She is now forging a career in the human development side of HR.
That's brings us to the next step. Working out where you could use these talents. Using the above example, my client may have chosen to be a counsellor, a social worker, a psychologist, even a lawyer amongst many many other things. Amongst the reasons she settled on HR was she wanted to be in a positive, developing team environment in the hub of the West End. A satisfying career is a combination of many factors - the environment that fits your personality being a key one. Put a swan that is used to the Thames in an enclosed pond and they're not going to be a happy cygnet. It may be that your perfect pond is right on your doorstep. You may love the company you work for, but dislike your role, which you find pedestrian and boring. So, tell them what you're good at, ask them what opportunities they could offer you, be sure they know what you want to do. Be proactive; show them what you're made of. When talent is used, it works for everybody. No organisation worth its salt, wants to be surrounded by a horde of hobbling swans.
Here's the thing - our swan KNOWS it can swim, that that is exactly what it's built for. But it had to make its way to the water before it could do so. It didn't waste any time on the towpath grumbling, it just got in. So there's only one thing for it - we have to get off the sidewalk and into the stream.
By Hiren on 18 March 2008 at 01:21