Discovering Your Hidden Talents: A Guide to Self-Exploration
Many gems hide within human consciousness. You can find at least one that is just beyond your current awareness. The confinement of daily routine limits what we do. We don’t even try many things and consider others. The hidden talents cannot be explored within daily routines.
By extension, the life you could experience based on expressions of your hidden talents is very different than the one you have already experienced.
What could that life be like with expressions of your newfound talents?
Here are eight steps to help you discover a few of your hidden talents:
1. Notice Your Interests
Interests rise from a deeper level of awareness. You can use them as you would a flashlight to reveal the darker corners of the mind that hide your hidden talents.
Don’t dismiss your interests. Note them and work to understand them by taking action. Your interests could be as subtle as a nagging urge to learn to play guitar or as overt as a fascination with home remodeling shows. Consider these interests a trail of breadcrumbs leading you to your destination. Follow the trail forward.
Action Step: Make a list of what interests you through the actions you take in your spare time. Choose the one that you spend most of your time with and plan steps that engage you in learning more and doing more with that. For example, move forward from watching home remodeling shows to doing small projects around the house.
2. Itemize Your Strengths
You have a natural talent for one or more activities. These are things you can easily do while others struggle with them. Don’t overlook them because they seem easy to you.
Also, look at the skills you have developed over the years. Think of your natural talents and your skills as a flowing stream. Follow them and see where they go. What else is connected to them that you have never considered before?
Action Step: Create a list of your natural talents and skills. Reflect on how you can further develop these strengths and explore related activities that you have never tried before.
3. Consult with Others
Often, we cannot see what is in front of our face. What others see quickly in us, we miss entirely. Ask supporting friends and family about what they like about you and what they think you are good at.
Action Step: Have conversations with trusted friends and family members. Ask them for their honest opinions about your strengths and potential hidden talents.
4. Analyze Your Thoughts, Actions, and Words
What do you often think about? What do you watch on TV? What do you most talk about during your free time?
Repetitive themes in thought patterns and conversations could be indicators of your hidden talents. A repetitive return to the subject of travel for an accountant or researching how the human body works for a musician indicates hidden interests and possibly talents.
Action Step: Keep a journal for a week, noting recurring themes in your thoughts, conversations, and activities. Look for patterns that could indicate hidden talents.
5. Identify Your Source of Admiration
What do you admire? You recognize what you have even though you may not know it. If you admire writers or painters, your source of admiration could imply your own talents.
Action Step: Make a list of people and activities you admire. Reflect on why you admire them and consider exploring these areas yourself.
6. Take Aptitude Tests
Understand that test results do not define you. Having said that, take an aptitude test to help you see what you may have missed.
Action Step: Find and take a reputable aptitude test. Use the results as a guide to explore new areas of interest and potential talents.
7. Notice Your Collections
What do you like to collect? Items, movies, albums, music? The urge to collect certain items may rise from your hidden talents bubbling to the surface of your awareness.
Action Step: Review your collections and consider what they reveal about your interests and potential talents. Explore activities related to these collections.
8. Expand Your Self-Perception
Starting early in life, we follow grooves set by others. Our activities within those grooves deepen them to form an idea about who we are. In a sense, our limited actions narrow our self-perception. Try new things to expand your self-perception. With your expansion of awareness comes the ability to see things within yourself that you may have missed.
Action Step: Challenge yourself to try something new every week. This could be a new hobby, a different genre of books or movies, or an unfamiliar type of exercise. Expanding your experiences will help broaden your self-perception and uncover hidden talents.
By following these steps, you can begin to uncover your hidden talents and explore new aspects of yourself. The journey of self-discovery is ongoing, and each step you take brings you closer to realizing your full potential.
