You don’t have to be good at or enjoy every skill that is related to People Analytics in order to be successful in a People Analytics career. There are so many different skills that can be leveraged in People Analytics and luckily there are also so many variations and types of activities and careers. That means you can focus on a career that aligns best with your strengths and interests. But, only if you have clarity on what those strengths and interests are. In step 1 you identified your existing strengths and in steps 2 through 4 you completed Self-Discovery skill assessments that highlighted many more. So, we’ve already got a head start on building out an inventory of all your awesomeness. But we also want to make sure we focus on what you might enjoy doing. Remember, you don’t have to be good at something to enjoy it, and you aren’t necessarily going to enjoy everything you are good at.

Self-Discovery: Take Inventory of What You Enjoy & What You’re Good At

1. What are Your Strengths? Review all the skills you have explored in the self-discovery activities of this book. Add any that you have any skill in to the table below and put a checkmark in the column labeled “Strength.” It doesn’t matter what level of skill you are at and there is no minimum level for something to be a strength. Some activities or jobs only require a low level on a skill to be successful and a higher level would be unnecessary; it’s all relative to how the skill will be used. It also doesn’t matter if you are at your desired skill level today. Something can be a strength even if you hope to grow and become stronger in it in the future. If you are unsure, pretend a friend asked for your help on a project involving that thing. Could you provide them with some useful help or support? If yes in anyway, go ahead and mark it a strength. To help you remember where all these activities were you can find them in each step as follows:
   1. Step 1: “Self-Discovery: Identify Your Strengths”
   2. Step 2: “Self-Discovery: People Analytics Translator Skills.” And don’t forget about the data consumer skills of ‘Analytical & Critical Thinking,’ ‘Systems Thinking,’ and ‘Curiosity & Creativity.’
   3. Step 3: “Self-Discovery: Analytical Skills,” “Self-Discovery: Data Visualization Skills,” “Self-Discovery: People Data Management, Governance & Ethics Skills,” “Self-Discovery: People Analytics Research Skills,” and “Explore & Engage: People Analytics Technology Explorations”
   4. Step 4: “Self-Discovery: People Analytics Community Building Skills”
2. Where are Your Passions and What Do You Enjoy? In the table below, use the column labeled “Interest & Passion” to put a checkmark next to all skills you enjoy or are interested in. Typical ikigai definitions use the word “love” for this category but that can be too strong a word for some people, even “joy” may be a bit too exuberant for some. If that’s you, feel free to think of these as skills you are “drawn to” or “interested in.” Enjoyment and connection to something is personal, so how you choose these will be personal too. When in doubt, mark it.
   1. Tip: Go back through all the lists of skills in this book and add anything you were interested in to the table. Don’t limit yourself to only the things you are good at. I don’t believe you have to be good at something to be interested, excited or enjoy it.
3. What Skills do You Want to Develop? Learning something new can be incredibly rewarding, it can spark a sense of accomplishment, fuel curiosity and keeps you engaged and stimulated while also enabling you to reach your full potential and gain the career you hope to achieve. Even the very process of discovery and mastering new skills can bring you that sense of joy, I hope you have in your career. So it’s worth identifying the areas that you would like to develop in. Look at the list of skills you have now created and place a checkmark in the column labeled “Development” for any skill you would like to increase your mastery level in.
   1. Tip: Don’t base this off of what you are/aren’t already good at. Base this off of what things you want to learn. Either because you would enjoy the learning process or you feel that the learning would be valuable to you personally. And, don’t be afraid to mark items you are already strong in; building new skills is exciting, but so is mastery and deep specialization. It’s up to you which and how many you choose to mark.

Skill Table Template:

Example: