In business, knowing your own biggest natural strength gives you a better understanding of how you can increase your odds of success and how you best operate. This is especially critical in today’s cutthroat, highly competitive business landscape. Failure to adapt to the constant changes and consumer sentiment can spell disaster for you and your entrepreneurial endeavors.
Some people have flawless organizational skills, others are good with numbers, while some are natural problem solvers. How about you? What are you good at that gives you a competitive edge?
While you probably already have an idea of where you excel, remember that many of us have this propensity to overestimate our capabilities and talents. Researchers from Cornell University conducted a study showing that the least competent performers inflated their abilities the most – not because of arrogance but of ignorance.
However, there are ways to prevent us from falling into the trap of overestimating our abilities. With the tips mentioned below, we can be more objective when assessing our strengths, or even lack thereof.
Identify what makes you tick.
Your excitement is almost palpable when you’re engaged in a project that you really excel at. And despite some difficulties, the tasks right in front of you make you feel alive and motivated that your heart beats faster and stronger, your pupils dilate, and your voice gets a higher pitch.
Observe if you do things differently compared to the vast majority of people.
First things first: Being different for the sake of wanting to be different does not increase your chance of success. Successful entrepreneurs only take purposive actions, which means they have no qualm going against the norms or ignoring the bandwagon to achieve their goals.
Whether in business, career, or personal life, successful people stand out because they resist the “bandwagon effect” or cognitive bias, which causes humans to take actions that they believe the vast majority of people have already taken.
Explore new roles.
You’ll never get to know your strength unless you test the water, right? Unfortunately, many of us are too hung up on our job titles or too snuggled up in our “comfort zone” that we stop exploring new things. For example, if you think that your talent is only limited to numbers and hard facts, why not meet with potential business partners and clients and see if you have great people skills or need to work on these.
Describe your perceived strengths using the most exact words.
When you describe your perceived strengths, use the most exact words you can find. So instead of saying, “I’m passionate and hardworking,” be more creative and specific like, “I’m a great problem solver who gets excited about challenges,” or “my analytical skills allow me to make decisions based on facts rather than preconceived ideas and unrestrained emotions.”
Conclusion on Biggest Natural Strength
Once you identify your strengths, the next step is to find ways to monetize them. For example, if you’re passionate about baking and have artistic skills, you can create an edible art piece, start a digital marketplace that sells baking tools and supplies, create a blog post and earn from ads and product promotions, or even do all of these things.
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