Strengths and Talents plan
Have you identified your strengths and talents? If not check out this great article; it should help you identify them. After you have completed that task come back here and let’s get to the next step.
Now that we are all on the same page let’s talk about the next big question…. What do we do with this list now? Here are 4 steps:
- Determine how they support your life purpose.
- Establish a baseline of your skills and talents.
- Set goals for your skills and talents.
- Create a plan of action for meeting your goals for your skills and talents.
How Your Strengths and talents Support your life purpose
Like I said in the article for determining your strengths and talents, they will likely support you’re your life. This is because what you enjoy doing is what you are good at, and if you are really good at something, it is for a reason. If you are spiritual, this is a spiritual truth. If you are not spiritual, this is pragmatic. If you believe in only yourself, then believe in what you enjoy.
This step should be easy for you, if you have identified both your life purpose and your strengths and talents correctly. If your strengths and talents do not further or help you succeed or excel at your life purpose, go back and figure out where you got one or the other wrong.
Establish a baseline of your skills and talents
A baseline is a starting measurement. Figure out a quantifiable measurement for your talent or strength. If your talent is juggling, measure how many objects your can juggle and for how long. Simple example, but it works. If your talent or strength is not so easily measured you may have to be more creative. For instance if your writing is your strength or talent, you may have to measure errors per 100 words, or have someone else rate the entertainment value of your writing on a scale of 1-10. However you do it, figure your baseline.
You’ll use these baseline measurements later. Depending on the needs of your plan you may take periodic measurements of to see how your progress is on improving your strengths and talents. That is the point of the baseline giving you a way to tell if you are improving.
Set goals for your skills and talents
How good can you get? That is what you want to determine. Your goals should push your talents and strengths to their limit. You want to get the edge, find your potential. I suggest both intermediate and end goals. Intermediate will be steps along the way to your full potential.
Create a Plan for your Talents and Strengths
This plan for meeting the goals you have set for your talents and strengths will be a sub-plan of your larger life purpose plan. Your life plan, which is the plan you will follow to meet your life purpose, shall contain your baseline and goals for your talents and strengths, and explain how they support your life purpose. It’s all part of one big happy plan!
Your talents and strengths plan will have activities that you will do to improve your talents and strengths. Here are some examples:
- Training for your talents and strengths
- Practice – hours per week, day, etc.
- Research and reference material
- Support groups – like minded people supporting one another
- Purchase equipment needed to be better
I am sure you can think of other items to add to your plan. And with all plans, remember that the plan should be updated as new ideas and progress is made. Plans are fluid and should change as you make progress and life takes you in different directions.
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Author: Jeff Harris
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