Discover Your Natural Strengths and Find Career Satisfaction
-what-to-do-400.jpg)
Co-creator of Perceptual Style Theory
When You Don't Know What You Want to Be
When I was young, I had the usual answers to the familiar question, "What are you going to be when you grow up?" Since both my parents were physicians, I often answered "Doctor" rather than "Fireman" or "Policeman." That answer usually satisfied the adults asking the question, who would smile and tell me how proud my parents would be.
My first real career ambition, however, was to become a "mad scientist." My best friend and I dreamed of building a laboratory filled with sparking Van de Graaff generators and bubbling Erlenmeyer flasks. I had no idea what a mad scientist actually did, but the idea sounded like tremendous fun. And as an added bonus, it usually startled the adults who asked about my future.
The truth was, I had no idea what I wanted to become. Over the years, I've discovered that I was hardly alone. Many people enter careers without fully understanding why they chose them, and others eventually find themselves working in fields that have little connection to what they studied in school.
It amazes me how many children graduate from high school and even college with little idea of what they want to do with their lives and often even less of an idea about the things at which they are naturally skilled, talented, or gifted.
Discovering the Strengths Behind My Passion
I got lucky. In my junior year in high school, I discovered psychology through the then booming human potentials movement (this was the late 60s and early 70s) and found my passion. I set my goal to obtain a doctorate in psychology and, with determination, achieved it.
In retrospect, I am not sure it was psychology, per se, that fueled my passion. Yes, I was driven by a desire to understand myself and others and use that understanding to live and help others live a more satisfying and meaningful life. But the passion was driven by the natural skills I possess to assess, problem-solve, troubleshoot, take apart and put back together, organize in unique and idiosyncratic ways, see connections in apparently unrelated things, and understand complex systems.
Practicing psychology is only one of the many ways I've used these natural strengths. Throughout my life, I've taught school, tutored others, bred reptiles, earned a fifth-degree black belt in Shaolin Kenpo, obtained financial services licenses, and managed investments for myself and family members.
I've also cared for family members during their final illnesses and built a 1,500-square-foot home, including much of its electrical, plumbing, and gas work. On the surface, these experiences may seem unrelated. But when I look beneath the activities themselves, I recognize the same natural strengths at work: analyzing problems, understanding complex systems, finding connections, organizing information, and developing practical solutions.
Your Natural Strengths Go Beyond Your Job Title
This realization changed how I understood my own career. Rather than seeing my experiences as a collection of unrelated activities, I began recognizing the underlying strengths that connected them. The activities were different, but the natural abilities I brought to each were remarkably consistent.
This emphasis on the strengths people bring to their work is central to Your Talent Advantage. It also reflects a broader development in how occupations are described. When the U.S. Department of Labor introduced the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) to replace the older Dictionary of Occupational Titles, occupational information expanded beyond lists of job tasks to include the knowledge, skills, abilities, interests, and other characteristics associated with different kinds of work.
Natural Skills Versus Acquired Skills
From the task-based approach, the question asked is: "Can I perform the tasks the job requires?" From a skills perspective, the question is: "Do I have the natural skills that match the skills the job requires?"
Understanding this distinction doesn't mean avoiding new skills or limiting ourselves to what already comes naturally. Instead, it means recognizing how our natural strengths can support the skills we acquire. When we understand that relationship, we can make more informed career choices, approach challenges with greater confidence, and seek opportunities that allow us to contribute in ways that are both effective and personally satisfying.
If I am aware of my Talent Advantage – the set of skills potentials that are innate to me because of my Perceptual Style –I can easily assess whether they match the skills required for a particular job.
The difference between relying primarily on acquired skills and working from our natural strengths can have a profound effect on how we experience our careers. When our work consistently draws on abilities that come naturally to us, we're more likely to experience a sense of engagement, satisfaction, and personal meaning. When we must continually rely on skills that require sustained effort without drawing on our natural strengths, work may become increasingly draining.
Finding Meaningful Work Through Your Talent Advantage
Your Talent Advantage isn't a job description or a list of tasks you've learned to perform. It's an understanding of the natural strengths and abilities that shape how you approach the world. By recognizing these strengths through your Perceptual Style, you can begin identifying the kinds of work, challenges, and opportunities that allow you to contribute most naturally and experience greater personal satisfaction.
Many people find themselves in careers they never consciously chose based on their natural strengths. Instead, they followed familiar expectations, pursued financial security, or learned to perform the tasks associated with available opportunities. While these choices can lead to successful careers, they don't always lead to work that feels personally meaningful or satisfying.
Even though the job market has shifted from an industrial-based economy to an information and service-based economy, the task-based approach to figuring out "What to do?" is still deeply ingrained in our culture, schools, and personal expectations for ourselves and our children.
The skill-based approach is at the core of Your Talent Advantage and is the foundation of the services and products we have created to help people discover and use their natural talents. It is what we mean when we say, "Discover what you do well and do more of it."
Over the years, I've encountered many quotations expressing the importance of finding work we genuinely enjoy. One familiar saying captures the idea: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." Although the quotation is frequently attributed to Confucius, its origin is uncertain. Regardless of who first expressed it, the underlying message resonates with me: meaningful work becomes more satisfying when it allows us to use the strengths that come naturally to us.
Your career doesn't have to be defined solely by your job title, your education, or the tasks you've learned to perform. A more meaningful starting point may be understanding the natural strengths you bring to everything you do.
Think about the activities that energize you, the problems you naturally enjoy solving, and the situations in which you feel most capable and engaged. What strengths do those experiences have in common?
Perhaps it's time to discover your own Talent Advantage and explore how your natural strengths can help you create a more satisfying and meaningful life.
Please share your thoughts on this topic in the comment section below.
Discover how your Perceptual Style reveals the natural strengths that can help you find greater satisfaction in your career and personal life. Explore The Power of Your Perception.
© Vega Behavioral Consulting, Ltd., All Rights Reserved
About Dr. Gary M. Jordan, Ph.D.
Gary Jordan, Ph.D., has over 35 years of experience in clinical psychology, behavioral assessment, individual development, and coaching. He earned his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology – Berkeley. He is co-creator of Perceptual Style Theory, a psychological framework and assessment system designed to help people recognize and develop their natural strengths. He is a partner at Vega Behavioral Consulting, Ltd., a consulting firm specializing in helping people discover their skills and talents.
Additional information about Dr. Jordan
