You Got Mad Skills, But How Are You Using Them?

You got mad skills. Didn’t you know? It’s one of the reasons you’ve scaled corporate ladders, started companies, broke sales records, and reached all those epic professional milestones. These are all amazing feats proving you’ve put your skills to good use. 

But…. are you using your skills to achieve your secret (or not so secret) personal aspirations?   You know, applied those skills to achieve your personal big hairy audacious goals (BHAGs)? When was the last time you evaluated ALL the skills you have? I’m willing to bet it’s been a minute, if ever. I’m willing to bet you have no idea of ALL the skills you have.  

You’re so used to just showing up and doing your thang (which is usually kicking serious butt) that those skills everyone else wishes they had are like breathing to you — they are second nature and nothing you have to think about anymore. You probably haven’t really looked at each of the skills you’ve got in your toolbox, intentionally with wonder and discovery. 

It’s okay. Most of us don’t. Most of us take our skills for granted. Most people never truly look at what makes them successful because they’re too busy picking apart their perceived faults and failures. (It’s just what the brain does…) We see our “skills” just as ordinary parts of us that aren’t unique. They are just a part of how we operate. 

While that may be true — your skills feel normal to your experience — when you stop to look at them objectively, you can see how you are more skilled in some areas than other areas. And, how you are more skilled in some ways compared to someone else. We each have our own “zones of genius” (which I’ll talk about more in a second). The other thing you might discover when you take a hard look at your skills, is which skills you really love having and which make you go “meh.” 

Knowing and understanding what your skills are and what they offer you helps you brave your authentic path, go after your big dreams, and reframe your Imposter Syndrome from sabotage to superpower. Those freakin’ fantastic talents you have are a fundamental part of your success and entirely intuitive at this point. When you pull them out to examine them (again, with wonder and discovery) to see what makes you successful in one area of your life, you can apply those skills to another. 

Even though we think we are good at one thing but not at another, that’s not the case. Anyone can master something if they want to spend time and effort. The moral of the story? Get really intimate with which skills you have and which you want to leverage, so you can shift paradigms, transform industries, scale companies, and anything else you’ve got your brilliant mind set on. 

KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING & WHAT YOU NEED 

Of course the groundwork is understanding your values and your goals, first. You can’t really evaluate which skills you need to go and make that BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) happen if you don’t know what the BHAG is. Those BHAGS MUST be created on a foundation of values that are completely true and authentic to you. 

Honestly, the reason most people don’t fulfill their dreams is because they are focused on getting “Somewhere.” A place that isn’t defined by them. When you create your BHAGs on a foundation of values then you’ve got a shot to be true to yourself. Once you know what you’re going after, then you can determine the skills you need.

Let’s say for the sake of this conversation, you know both your values and your BHAG. Whether that’s to become a better CEO of your own life or of the company you’ve created (or something in between), you know your vision. You have an end goal in mind. With that end goal established, now is the time to list the skills you need to make that happen. Maybe you have those skills. Maybe you don’t. 

JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN DO SOMETHING, DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD

If you have those skills, you need to determine if you want to use them to actualize your dream. Are they skills you’re passionate about that you want to employ for this pursuit? Or are they skills you have that you’re competent in but that you would rather avoid using altogether? 

I mean, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you have to or should. I can reconcile my QuickBooks but it would actually serve me better if someone with the competency and the desire did this instead. We would all end up happier. Including my checking account. 

If you don’t have the skills, are you interested in learning them or not? If you’re not interested in learning them but you know you need them, who can you tap who already has those skills? Who can you delegate that part of the plan to? Maybe you don’t have anyone yet in mind or anyone currently on your team, that’s okay. The point is not to have it all figured out by the time you’re done reading this post, but to just be thinking about and identifying the skills you know you need, but don’t have the desire or bandwidth to learn. 

STAY IN YOUR ZONE AND INVITE PEOPLE INTO THEIRS

You’ve heard things like “stay in your zone of genius” or “stay in your lane,” right? Ultimately, the idea is to spend most of your time engaged with the skills or talents where you’re strongest (and most passionate) instead of doing it all because you can or because you don’t want to find someone else who can do that thing better. 

It makes a whole lot of damn sense when you consider the data that Gallup collects on the effectiveness of a CliftonStrengths-based approach to the workplace. They’ve built their entire framework on leveraging people’s natural strengths. Consider this one piece of evidence: people who focus on using their strengths are 3x as likely to report having an excellent quality of life and 6x as likely to be engaged in their job. 

When you look at your skills, which are the ones that really light you up, that you enjoy doing, that make you feel “in the zone” and support your efforts to actualize your dreams (BHAGs)? Focus your own energy there. You’ll be happier and more profitable no matter how you slice it. Now, what skills are still needed to manage your way forward to your final goal? Figure those out and invite people who have those skills into their zones of genius. You’ll both be grateful and you’ll get one step closer to where you wanna go. 

Be on the lookout for your type of Imposter Syndrome to rear its head. If you’re operating from a position of not wanting to delegate (Perfectionist type) or hating to ask for help because it makes you feel weak (Natural Genius or The Expert type), then that is your Imposter Syndrome stepping in to impose itself on your dreams. Any time you feel stuck in the next phase of a project (personal or professional), go back to identifying your core values and beliefs. These can either make or break your BHAGs from taking off. Then, once you recalibrate, you can resume determining what skills you need to reach your goals and whether you’ve got them or you need to go elsewhere to get them. 

Lean into your greatest skills, let others’ lean into theirs, and reach your goals. That makes it sound ridiculously simple, I know. Need support? I got your back. My entire Unleash Your Legacy cohort works through the entire foundational elements that head straight for your success and big dreams, including intimately identifying your values, beliefs, goals, and skills. (Oh, and team. Because Rome wasn’t built by one person even if it was the vision of one.) 

We each have an abundance of skills, but only one or two zones of genius. Do you know which are your skills and which are your zones? It’s time to discover them. You can thank me later. 

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To discover your authentic self and turn your big dreams into incredible realities, join my Unleash Your Legacy cohort or consider checking out my next Empower Hour.

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