LEARN "YOU" TO DISCOVER THE "BEST YOU”

In today's professional marketplace it is important that people make a concentrated effort to know what their professional gift(s), or as Steve Harvey, world renown entertainer and author [Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success] describes as "the thing you do at your absolute best with the least amount of effort.” Other ways to describe it is a niche, specific capabilities, expertise or a unique blend of abilities.

Do you know who you truly are as a professional? Do you have a firm and detailed understanding of your natural skill(s)? Do you know the level that those skills are at right now? Do you have method to nurture and grow those skills to an expert level? Do you know how to optimally market your expert skill to your maximized benefit? Do you have the ability and plan to reproduce yourself professionally through other not-yet-developed people with a gift similar to yourself?

• Notice that I did not ask you what you do now professionally or your current job title.  
• Notice that I did not ask what you think is available for you now or what the others around you are or are not doing.  
• Notice that I did not ask anything related to your current education level, your gender, your age, your race, or your economic status.

So, I ask again, “Who are you truly as a professional?”

Don’t feel bad if you do not have an immediate answer. No matter what the age group or other category, many do not know how to answer this question directly... at first. And there is no such thing as “No answer exists for me,” as that is the same as saying that your professional exist serves no special purpose, which magnificently untrue.  

Again, this is not a job or role based question, but more of a “what do you stand for”, “what would you want to change in the world” or “what issue or problem do you want to address or solve” question.  

“Working hard on a job that you don’t believe in is called stress, working hard on a job that you believe in is called passion.” – Simon Sinek

I’m of the belief that your day to day work should be a direct reflection of your personal professional definition for yourself. This is the difference of a working experience that makes Monday morning just as exciting as Friday afternoon, where you laugh at work just as much as you laugh outside of work and your sense of accomplishment at work rates higher than getting 10,000 likes on a Facebook or Instagram post.  

There are many ways to start the process of finding out who you are professionally. First suggestion is to start this discovery process from the inside out as opposed to the outside in. Answers to the following questions could help just start the process:

• What was your favorite subject(s) in middle/high school?
• What do people in general always ask your help to do/figure out on a consistent basis?
• In what role do you tend to end up in the social circles that you are a part of?
• If you were promised everything needed to fix one problem, what would it be? 
• What major solution do you find yourself wanting to see happen as well as be a part of?
• What is your personality type? Your emotional intelligence (EQ) score?
• What hobbies/groups/activities have you stayed involved with for the most time? What about them to you like? How are the things you like about them related?

The way these are answered can begin to formulate the foundation of who you are in the professional realm and where you have the strongest desire to make an impact on the world around you. All of us can benefit from this introspective activity to become more in alignment with our true professional selves!