You have an uncanny ability to …

Last time I talked about my general resistance to assessment tests, and newfound irritation at the fact that they’re usually onto something. I loved reading the comments which reminded me that any categorization necessarily involves a wide range of possibilities.  And that continuum takes us back to the whole unique snowflake idea.

For example, in Myers-Briggs I landed in the Champion Idealist category (sorry, I will probably never get enough of referring to myself that way). And these ENFP folks are extroverts, but my reading is only just *barely* extroverted.  

I have a pretty fierce independent streak and tend to be a smidgen introspective, so I certainly identify with my introvert rising. It reminds me of where my birthday falls, making me a Leo with frequent Virgo moments.  Because of the spectrum within these categories, the real key with any assessment is to know yourself: use the concepts that help you and leave the rest.

And in pondering the idea that there’s some Thing we can each do better than anyone else, I’ve been thinking about how we all have these little (or huge) things we’re ridiculously good at.  I guarantee you have an uncanny knack for … something.  But sometimes this stuff is so innate and obvious to us that we tend to discount it.

We assume that decorating or dream analysis or doodling comes easily to everyone.  Especially when we really love doing it.  And then we might sell ourselves short.  A related pattern on the flip side is that we sometimes perceive this weird knack of ours as so obscure or irrelevant that there’s no realistic way to do anything with it.  Like, for money.

Once we are able to identify the random thing we’re weirdly talented at, I think there can be a tendency to approach it too simplistically.  I found it really helpful to just start noticing.  And if you’re feeling brave, and willing to be a little vulnerable, the people who know you well could probably rattle off several of your quirky gifts.

One of my little things is being a good listener.  Whoopee.  After all, there are lots of good listeners out there and it’s not much of a party trick.  But I also have a flair for making a connection between what I’m hearing someone say, and all of the social science-y information swirling through my brain; for remembering an anecdote or bit of advice I heard three years ago that might give someone the insight they need today.

On that note, I read a great interview between Danielle LaPorte and Dyana Valentine yesterday, and Dyana actually shares this knack with me (yeah, I think that’s super neat).  She put it much more coherently explaining that she knows a lot about “connecting seemingly disparate ideas and making sense of patterns.”  Yes!  That’s exactly my weird talent.

So as I started noticing this about myself, all I could think was that, yeah, maybe it’s a nice perk for my friends, but how on Earth do I turn this talent into a job?  I can’t exactly charge people for recommending the right book at the right moment.  

I also have an intuition about seeing the best in my favorite people, their (icky word alert) potential.  And this bit is actually less of a perk for my friends, and more of an annoying tick of mine that they’re barely willing to put up with. Because, well, not everyone wants to hear what big, cool thing I think they’d be fantastic at.

But if I can combine this knack for seeing someone’s superpower, with the flair for connecting disparate ideas, with the bit about being a good listener … then, voila: kinda useful coach-ey thing.

So please tell me what you’re ridiculously good at, and whether you’ve managed to turn it into something you share with the world (even in itty bitty ways) or it’s something you’re still exploring.  I am freakishly curious.