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Gifts

Christmas, Hanukkah, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, there are so many opportunities for giving and receiving gifts.  But we also carry gifts with us all the time.  You might think of them as talent and readily see them in other people.  The reality is, everyone has talents or gifts but not everyone has discovered them.  In fact, it’s not unusual to believe that we have only one talent.  Again, the reality is we have multiple talents. 

For superstars, it’s not hard for us to identify their singing, athletic, or cooking stardom.  Listen to a great speaker and their talent is immediately on display.  Become engrossed in a talented actor’s character portrayal and their gifts are revealed.  Even the confidence we get from a visit to our doctor is in part due to our assessment of their talents, and certainly when we run our hand over a beautiful crafted piece of wood we can feel the result of an individual’s talent. 

Sometimes talents or gifts are the art of problem solving, leading groups, speaking in public, working with one’s hands, mediating opposing sides, the list is endless.  So how do people discover their gifts?  Why do some people struggle to find theirs?  The truth is, it’s kind of like snowflakes, we’re all different and we discover those gifts differently and therein lies part of the beauty of our diversity.  But when you are struggling to find your path and your gifts remain a puzzle it is hard to embrace that diversity.

The Highlands Ability Battery can be a game changer.  As an assessment, its purpose is to identify and shine light on an individual’s abilities and provide understanding as to how those connect and ultimately tap into the natural gifts.  It also provides a network of understanding how a path chosen today may evolve into another path 10 years from now based on work force changes, natural abilities and a changing individual.  After all, who we are at 22 is not who we are at 52.  Our skills evolve, interests change, and opportunities present themselves based on where we are, who we know and how we’ve grown. 

Struggling to find your purpose, your gifts, your path?  Want to know more?  You can visit the Highlands Company website here or reach out to me at my website here to learn more.  After all, knowledge is power. 

It’s a beautiful time of year to celebrate your gifts!

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Stressed Out or Burned Out?

I learned long ago that we humans are very connected people.  Connected to each other, but also connected to interests and values that shift throughout our lives.  When our work life gets into conflict with our current values system we get a disconnect and ultimately become dissatisfied with whatever it is we are doing.  Enter national job force disengagement numbers of 65-70%.  That’s a scary number for businesses, productivity and if you are experiencing BURNOUT or STRESS as an individual.

Burnout and Stress affect job performance but they also affect our personal lives.  It can be like hitting a wall.  Have you felt ineffective at work, maybe overly tired, or perhaps at time cynical?  Maybe you are in initial stages of Burnout.  Or perhaps you have felt your performance is diminished, changes in body rhythms, emotionally edgy.  These could be signs of Stress.

Life truly is a balance and everyone’s point of balance is different.  Burnout and Stress can cause our sense of balance to be thrown off and we’re left with questions.  Should I change jobs?  Should I go back to school? Should I…..the list can get long when we get into the spiral.

Sometimes finding the balance requires a complete job reset, but sometimes it is a matter of tweaking the other parts of our lives that include interests and values.  Sometimes we use friends and family as our sounding boards, but sometimes we just need a coach.

I believe we should all be inspired by possibilities, discover our talents and abilities, and ultimately understand and be driven by our purpose.  Burnout and Stress may be stepping stones to finding these.  Want some help?