Explore & Engage: Use Your Current Strengths to Your Happiness Advantage

These first two columns of your list give you a starting guide for exploring ways to maximize the career you have today or start your career journey by leveraging your current strengths and focusing on what energizes you. As you know, I am a big fan of the idea that it is always best to leverage your strengths and follow your passions. We all have a tendency to want to focus first on what others want from us (what’s available on the job market, what our bosses expect of us, etc.) or to focus on developing what we are missing or need to “fix.” And, yes, we will talk about how to identify what others need/what you can get paid for and how to build a development plan. But, before we do, I encourage you to take the time to pause here. This is a wonderful place to review and deeply reflect on your strengths and interest without concern for anyone or anything else. The below actions and questions can help you do so.

Complete the actions in this step before moving on to the next section in the book.

All items with a plus symbol (+) and at least one star (☆) are opportunities for you to make the most of your people analytics career today and to have a great time in the process.

1. 1. Acknowledge how awesome you are. Look at each strength you identified. Think about all the ways you can use these strengths for yourself and how they can and do help others. Acknowledge all the time and energy you have put into building these strengths over your life. Now, if you ever get asked a question like, ‘what are your strengths?” you’ll never be stumped for an answer again! You are awesome.
   2. Do a little people analytics on yourself. What patterns do you notice in the data of your own stars and pluses? Are there any unique combinations or similarities among your strengths, interests, or passions? Put those analysis and critical thinking skills to use; what do you see? Take notes on what you discover.
   3. Get excited. Look at all the cool things you put stars next to. What are you most excited about? Studies show that positive anticipation can bring us as much or more pleasure than the actual event itself. Plan a cool project or activity that you can do to let you play with your passions and strengths. Start imagining how exciting and fun the future can be when you get to do these kinds of things as part of your career.
   4. Go play: While anticipation can be great, don’t just plan, do! Take action. Have you been consuming and learning about the things you are most passionate about? If not, go find things on those topics. Who or where could you go to to find more experiences and opportunities to do the kinds of things you are passionate about? Ask if there’s a place to you can start participating today. Where could you find others who are excited about the same topics you are? Connect with others about your passions. What learning activity could you undertake today to start developing a skill you are passionate about?