As a coach, your job is to be your best and motivate your clients. While there are many ways to do this, one of the most efficient and effective methods is to focus on your strengths. Your talents and affinities are a unique mixture, and nobody else has that same type of unique strength!
That’s why today’s module focuses on eschewing the usual “fix it” approach and engaging in radical self-love. By building up your strengths instead of focusing on your weaknesses, you can become a more effective and powerful coach.
What Is Talent?
Let’s start with the basics. What, exactly, is talent?
While a common definition of talent often implies that people are simply born with the ability, this isn’t necessarily true. In fact, that idea may even be harmful! Instead, many are pushing for a newer and more encompassing definition of the word. By this new standard, talent is the measure of one’s natural affinity for learning a specific skill.
Let’s say that someone’s talent is art. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they were born able to hold a paintbrush. Rather, it means that their mind is hardwired to easily and quickly learn the skills necessary for artistic expression.
Building on this example, let’s take a look at the benefits of this new definition of “talent”:
- This new definition encourages others. Everyone can learn new skills, it will just take a bit longer.
- Rather than being innate, talent can be improved. More importantly, especially for coaches, talent must be maintained. To cultivate a talent, you must readily and frequently practice!
- The new definition recognizes the work behind the talent, whereas the older definition ignored it.
What’s Your Talent?
In most cases, talent isn’t easy to learn. People tend to love their talents; when given the chance, people often choose to engage with and build upon their talents. Talents help you find your purpose, so it’s important to recognize and think about them. To guide yourself forward, consider these questions:
- What are your talents?
- If, like many of us, you’ve spent a bit too much time dwelling on your perceived shortcomings, put a halt to those negative thoughts! Instead, ask yourself this: Have you ever focused on your strengths and talents?
- If you haven’t invested more time into developing your talents, what’s the reason? What amazing things could you accomplish if you spent more time building yourself up to focus on your strength instead of tearing yourself down by dwelling on your faults?
The Benefits of Focusing on Your Talent
After you’re done with your soul-searching, it’s time to reframe your mindset. Instead of dwelling on your shortcomings, it’s time to embrace and focus on your strengths. While you shouldn’t stop learning new things and becoming a more well-rounded person, it’s important that you raise yourself up, more often than you put yourself down.
Engaging with and developing your talents can help you in both your personal and professional life. Scientific studies show that you’ll reap far more benefits from focusing on your strengths than you will by dwelling on your pitfalls.
A Happier & Healthier You
One of the most obvious benefits of focusing on your talents is improved mental health. You’re no longer wondering what may be “wrong” with you; instead, you’re finding out what’s exceptional about yourself! This fresh mindset is shown to lessen depression, increase confidence, and reduce stress.
Individuals engaging in the strength-centric mindset also report feeling more satisfied with their lives. When your mind is happy, your body feels happier, too!
Boost Creativity & Energy
Talents are deeply rooted within our brains. When we engage with our talents, whatever they may be, we’re tapping into a deep, primal connection. We fully engage our thoughts in a way that we’re hardwired to love. Because of this, we often experience more personal, skill-based, and even professional growth when we work on our talents.
Amp Up Engagement & Satisfaction
On a professional level, people who cater to their existing talents are more engaged and satisfied at work. By stimulating our most basic needs, we give our brains some much-needed recreational work. This often results in an improved sense of self-worth and direction.
Finding Your Strengths
With all of this in mind, it’s time to start thinking about your strengths. What do you do best? Hopefully, you already know the answer! If not, that’s okay! Modern society has conditioned many people to ignore their own innate value; it takes a while to unlearn this habit.
If you need a bit of help defining and focusing on your strengths, ask yourself these questions and consider these points:
- What do you find easy to do? Some people find that they’re absolutely amazing at maintaining an organized space, while others struggle to do so. Our talents tend to be the things we find easiest to do.
- What do you enjoy doing? In most cases, people love to do what they’re good at. Out of your daily chores and leisure activities, what brings you the most joy? You’ll find that this is likely one of your strongest areas.
- You don’t have to be the best to be talented. Everyone has a talent. It doesn’t matter if you’re the best at it, because there will always be someone you’ll want to compare yourself to. Stop thinking about it! Instead, see the value in your work.
- Be kind to yourself. Stop dwelling on things you know you’re not good at. While it’s always good to work on these weaknesses, you shouldn’t do so with the mindset of being broken. Instead, realize that everyone has areas of affinity and, by contrast, areas they struggle with.
The mindset we work with every day is important, and it influences how well we perform! Always do your best to have a positive, open mindset. Instead of judging or being critical, consider the things that frustrate you to be moments of growth and development. Needing to improve in a certain area is not a failure, it’s human!
How to Build Yourself Up
You’ve identified the problematic mindset, rid yourself of toxic negativity, and picked out your best qualities. Now, you may be wondering what comes next. The answer to that is practicality. It’s time to put your talents to use at work!
In addition to developing yourself personally, this information should help you grow professionally. The skills you’ve discovered as talents are invaluable to you, no matter what your career path may be. For coaches, however, talent is one of the central pillars of your job. You need to have passion, drive, and resilience. When you work with clients, you want to show them your skills and confidence. That’s where your talent comes into play.
1. Develop, Practice, & Grow
This may be the first step, but it shouldn’t be a one-time thing. You always want to be improving and growing. No matter what your talent is, it’s an opportunity to capitalize upon your innate affinities. Be sure to nurture this growth.
Here are a few examples that may apply to your life:
- Someone who is naturally charismatic will want to consistently grow and improve upon their client communication and motivational skills.
- An individual who is prone to hiking and long-distance trekking can gently push themselves to go on longer and longer trips.
- A skilled swimmer may opt to enter into swimming competitions or offer coaching to individuals just starting in the water.
- An aptitude for weight lifting may lead someone to increase their daily lifting goals.
However, be sure to build yourself up in a healthy way! Don’t push too hard and don’t do anything rash. While it may feel good, you’re still capable of doing damage to your body without proper precautions.
2. Share Your Success
One of the most surefire ways to retain a skill or remember information you’ve learned is to share it with others. We know you’re already sharing your talent with your clients, but it’s also good to share your skills with others. If you excel in an area your friend struggles with, see if they need help! Teach them what you know, and they might just repay you by helping you out when you need it.
For more creative types, it might be time to branch out some. Consider opening a blog or creating videos showcasing your process. This reinforces your value and potential while also expanding your sphere of influence.
3. Be Confident
It may take time, but this newfound mindset will eventually confer its benefits upon you. When it does, embrace the change! Be confident and bold. Show your clients what you’re capable of to inspire them. Your outward assuredness rubs off on people, even if it’s not always obvious.
Tips & Tricks
While the basis of this approach is positive thinking, we all know that it’s impossible to be upbeat all day, every day. Here are some ways to beat that funk and get back in the game.
Set Goals
People work best when there’s a goal they must reach. Write down what you want to learn or do, then work towards it. This approach not only boosts your efficiency but also improves your organizational skills. Reaching these goals also gives you a sense of accomplishment, which might just be the boost you need to round out a rough day.
Tackle Stress
Be sure to manage your stress levels. In addition to the known and nasty effects that stress has on your physical health, it also takes a mental toll. Remember to work with your support system and coping mechanisms.
Stay Open & Humble
Never see yourself as the ultimate authority. There’s always something new to learn, and the best coaches know this. Keep your mind open to new approaches, techniques, and possibilities. It doesn’t hurt to push outside of your comfort zone now and then.
Visualize Your Potential
If all else fails and you’re deep in that hole, then engage in some visualization exercises. Think about your ideal life: where do you want to be? What do you want to do? If necessary, write this information down. Then, think about how you’ll reach this goal.
The Big Picture
If you want to get started on your journey to a fresher, healthier, and happier self, then it’s time to focus on your strengths! Though you may not follow these steps exactly, here’s a good guide to reframing your mindset:
- Stop thinking of mistakes and missteps as failures. Recontextualize them as growth and experience. When a toddler learning to walk falls down, we don’t wag our finger at them for failing, we encourage them to try again!
- Identify your talents, focus on strengths If you want to, crack out a notebook and some pens and write it down to remind yourself. Point out your strongest points, your areas of natural aptitude, and the things you love to do. Remember them.
- Never stop nurturing your talents! This step will last your entire life! If you want to get the most from your talents, you need to be ready to constantly improve. This not only offers you a chance to be better, it helps you exercise your mind and body.
- Love yourself. It may be a rehash of the first step, but it can’t be stressed enough: failures are opportunities to grow. Learn from your mistakes; it makes you better equipped to tackle the problems you’ll encounter in the future.
- Showcase your growth. All of these steps should lead to a healthier, happier, and more confident you. Share this with your friends, colleagues, family, and clients! Your skills and confidence inspire others to be their best.
The journey to focus on your strengths may not always be easy, it’s worth it! As a coach, your work makes a difference; you should strive to maximize that impact. The world is better when we work together as a happy, healthy, and caring collective. When you make the change to focus on your strengths instead of your weaknesses, your positivity ripples outward and spreads! Who knows? You might just be the push that someone needs to turn it around and live their life to the fullest.
