Did you know that everybody has a superpower? Everyone has something that they can do with ease that others around them struggle to accomplish. In fact, you have a skill or talent that may seem simple to you but that others would pay to have access to.
How do I know this? Because I spent two months of my life trying to figure out what I was good at and in that search uncovered this simple truth, we all have a superpower.
When I was laid off from my job after 17 years in media, I suddenly had the exciting and stressful task of trying to figure out what to do next with my life.
Up until this point, I had accomplished everything I had hoped to as a little girl, which entailed being the first in my family to graduate from University, studying abroad in Florence, Italy, marrying a man who loved God and loved me passionately, having a successful career and traveling the world, but I had never taken the time to actually reflect on what I was truly created for.
What was it about me that was different than anyone else that would allow me the ability to help others and leave this world having truly lived the life I was meant to live?
So I began an exhaustive search for my purpose. I read books, blogs & watched you tube videos. I reviewed my Strengths Finder results. I polled my friends. I badgered my husband and my son. I called my Mother.
I took notes on everything and at the end of it all, cross-referenced the data to see where the overlap was.
I discovered that my superpower is "productivity".
The theme throughout my personal research always came back to this one ability and guess what? I never saw it as anything special. I've always just gotten things done.
People have often said things like "how do you do it all?" but I never thought I was doing anything differently than anyone else so I could never give them an answer.
I felt like I was just dealing with what was in front of me and moving from one stepping stone to another but in actuality "getting things done" just comes naturally to me.
The way my mind works allows me to look at a problem or a project, begin with the end in mind and then work backwards to solve for it.
I find tremendous satisfaction in getting things done too, which further solidified the idea that productivity could be my superpower.
How does finding your superpower equate to life purpose? At the root of a quest for purpose is the desire to leave your mark on this world and there is no better way to leave your mark than by sharing your gifts, talents and knowledge with others.
Knowing what you're good at gives you focus which helps you help others more effectively. Ask any CEO and they will likely tell you that focus is the key to success in anything.
God has a plan and a purpose for each of us. We are all gifted differently and have different passions and interests for a reason- so that we can live out those gifts and passions and interests and bring hope and life and joy to others.
You are unique. No one has your fingerprint and no one has your voice, each of those testify to your uniqueness. You were created to do something special that only you can do. Once you figure what that is, you can help others with your skill or talent.
Some of us are artists, others are writers, others are athletes , others engineers. Some are designers, others models, some are chefs, others entrepreneurs.
Some of us are inventors, others are connectors or encouragers or builders. We all have a place where our superpower can be exercised to help others in some way.
Below I go through the steps I took to discover my superpower but you won't need to take two months to do it. You can do it in 5 Days!
The reason I say 5 days is because it's important to give each step significant thought. It's also very helpful to sleep on your answers as your brain may generate new answers the next day that you'll want to add.
Don't feel the need to skip ahead. This is your purpose we're talking about so let's be thorough in the discovery process. You will be so happy that you did.
Download my FREE Excel Guide to Discovering your Superpower here: Discover Your Superpower H&F.
This has the cross-section of my own personal data. You can use it as a guide to input all of the data you will be collecting over the next 5 days.
What do your friends struggle with that you find effortless?
What skills do I have that someone would pay for?
You will be tempted to skip this step. Don't do it.
I found that the 5 strengths assessment gave me so much insight into myself and my talents that had I not done this step I am not sure I would have come to discover my superpower.
You will actually need to purchase a book for this step but I promise you it will be the best $20 bucks you ever spent. There's a reason why it is the best selling non fiction book of all time on Amazon.
Purchase Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath (note you must buy a new, not used, copy of this book as the code in the back works for one user only).
Take the quiz using the unique access code in the back. You do not need to read the entire book before taking the quiz. Just get the book so you can access the code for the quiz.
Gather all of your data in the excel sheet and sort it from A-Z by column. Then highlight those traits or skills or talents that overlap.
For instance some of mine that overlapped across 3 or more categories were "achiever", "achieving goals" & "achieving a lot at the same time" as well as "task oriented", "making lists" and "planning".
Once you have highlighted the common traits, list them all and try to see the common theme that they would all fall under and name it. In my case, the theme was "productivity".
This is your superpower. Focus it for good and find ways you can help others doing what you were created to do.
To sum up, everyone has a Superpower. You can find out yours and discover your purpose in 5 days. When I started this process I was literally at a cross-roads in my life. No job and even scarier, no sense of direction for what I should be doing with my life. Following these steps, I discovered my productivity superpower and it was the most exciting day of my life.
Since then, I launched this blog to help others discover ways to be more productive with their lives. I now put out content into the world everyday to help people BE more, GO more, PLAN more and DO more based on what comes easily to me. I have never been happier. I feel like I am finally doing what I was created for.
I want to hear all about your superpower discovery in the comments or please shoot me an email once you discover it at lisa@honeyandfigs.com.
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