Finding Your Superpowers
X-Ray Vision Not Required
As a kid, I moved 11 times before I turned 18. When I think about growing up, I can place a pin in the timeline of my childhood based on what color my bedroom was. If it was peach, it was 7th grade… if it was yellow, that’s 5th.
But my favorite bedroom had nothing to do with paint or wallpaper - it was the bedroom I had in the 3rd grade. Next to my bed was the tiniest little light switch I could push to turn on a reading light right next to my bed. It was like heaven. I spent hours lying under the covers reading Enid Blyton, John Bellairs and really any book I could get my hands on.
Words are powerful. We could do a whole discussion thread on our favorite quotes or phrases from books and we’d all have different ones. But I think one of the best 4 word-sentences in all of literature is this:
Harry–yer a wizard.
Four very simple but powerful words said by Hagrid to a scrawny 11 year old boy.
I know for me, when I read those words for the very first time, I felt a sharp intake of air as I imagined what that would feel like to receive those words. After all, we all want to be special. Don’t we?
And, while I can’t tell you that you are a wizard, I can tell you that you do have superpowers of your own.
Maybe you can’t use a pink umbrella to make a motorcycle fly or you’ll never be able to transfigure into a cat… but I bet you can do some pretty amazing things.
The Power of Knowing Your Strengths
This week on the podcast, I’m talking about the power of knowing and understanding your strengths. It seems like it should be easy to know your strengths… after all, it’s the stuff you’re good at, right?
The problem is, we get caught up in the comparison trap. We look around us and we feel like maybe our strengths aren’t really all that great. We struggle to try and bend and twist ourselves so we can do what everyone else is doing… exactly how they’re doing it.
When we try to fit in with everyone else, we lose sight of our own unique gifts that make us amazing.
Often we look at others and assume that we need to have the exact same skills, the exact same drive, and the exact same passion for the things that they do in order to be successful. But that’s not true.
In fact, that’s boring.
When it comes to our strengths, we actually don’t want everyone to have the same abilities. Think about it from a workplace perspective: maybe you are incredible at creating presentations and one of your colleagues is fantastic at public speaking. You are working together for the same goal–the vision is the same–but what you and your co-worker bring to the table are very different gifts. Working together means that you’ll create something much stronger.
That’s the beauty of each person embracing their strengths.
Sooo…How Do I Figure Out My Superpowers?
Now, before we dive into figuring out your strengths and your superpowers, I feel obligated to give a friendly little public service announcement:
Just because you’re good at something, doesn't mean you have to do it.
There are going to be things that you discover as we go through the exercise that are easily a strength for you. BUT (and it’s a big but) that doesn’t mean you have to do whatever this thing is.
I am good at spreadsheets. I can geek out and get them all formula-ed up so they’re spitting out data exactly as I need it. It’s a beautiful thing… but I hate creating them. Every time I decide I need a spreadsheet, I’ll come up with 50 million excuses (including cleaning out the cat litter box) to avoid getting started.
It’s just not fun. (for me)
And that’s one of the key indicators that it’s a strength, but not a superpower.
Bonus Activity for Premium Access Subscribers
I love writing this newsletter — and it takes a considerable amount of time. Having paid subscribers helps make it a more sustainable endeavor and keeps it ad-free.
As a thank you for supporting this newsletter, Premium Access subscribers will get three additional juicy extras today:
A quick and simple exercise to bring light to your own superpowers
A list 135 different strengths to get you thinking
Early access to the leadership guide I’ll be sharing next week in my regular newsletter