THE TRUTH ~ Myth #1: I SUCK! I AM NOT GOOD AT ANYTHING!

“You suck! You are not good at anything! You will never amount to anything! You have no talents!” 

-OR-

“I suck! I am not good at anything! I will never amount to anything! I have no talents!”

How many times have you heard people say this? How many people in your life have told you this? How many times have you said this to yourself? Well, what if I told you - scientifically, this is simply, humanly NOT TRUE?

You may respond,

“Yeah Right!” 

“Whatever!”

Do I have your attention yet?

Before you read on, please take a moment to STOP everything you are doing. Please do not bypass this step.

Take three deep breaths. As you breathe in, I want you to feel the energy of air filling your lungs. As you breath out, I want you to release any negative emotion or thought for the moment. Repeat 3 times…

Now, you have permission to read on…

If you are reading this right now, you are ALIVE and have a BRAIN, which means you are GOOD at something and that you have TALENTS! So reverse what I said, “scientifically, this is simply, humanly true!”  Let me prove it, in a simplified way, as I am not a scientist.

From conception, our brain develops a hundred billion neurons, or cells that begin to build the raw material of the mind by creating connections called synapses. A synapse is a connection between two brain cells that enables the cells to communicate with one another. By age three, each of your hundred billion neurons have formed fifteen thousand synaptic connections with other neurons. During the next ten years or so, your brain refines, focuses, and begins to ignore some of these connections. The stronger synaptic connections get only stronger, while the weaker connections simply break and die. By the time you wake up on your sixteenth birthday, half your network is gone. What remains is a unique network of connections that represent your talents.

Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, in their book, Now, Discover Your Strengths (The Free Press, 2001) define talents as our “recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior.” Your talents, your strongest synaptic connections, are the most important raw material for building your strengths. Strengths?

YES! WHAT YOU ARE NATURALLY GOOD AT!  

So you see, it is impossible not to be good at something! We are all unique. We are all born with talents. Unfortunately, many of us walk through life without ever really knowing what our innate talents are. Instead, from birth, we are told about all the things that are “wrong with us.” Therefore, we focus our time and energy on fixing our weaknesses only to yield mediocre results in return. We lose all sense of identity, become confused about who we are, and develop self-limiting beliefs and perceptions about ourselves, which sets us up to fail or not try!

Why Know Thy Talents?

It is not about who you are not.

It is who you are.

It is not about what you need to fix.

It is what you strengthen.

It is not about what you did wrong.

It is what you do right.

It is not about learning something new.

It is what you naturally do.

It is not about a situation.

It is your destination.

-Beckie Jorgensen

Believe me!  I know all too well, how at a young age, I constantly compared myself to family members and other people and it caused me to wonder, "Would I ever be good at anything?"  I desperately wanted to be good at something, whether musically, artistically or at a sport.

BE CONFIDENT. Too many days are wasted comparing ourselves to others & wishing to be something we aren’t. Everybody has their own strengths & weaknesses, and it is only when you accept, everything you are & everything you aren’t, that you will truly succeed in life. – Ritu Ghatourey

I continuously searched, trying different things, until I discovered my talent as a long distance runner in High School. But, as I was laid-up in a hospital bed for a week my Freshman year in College with a severe kidney infection, I came to the realization that my “legs” and the ability to run wasn’t necessarily a “talent” that would carry me through life. By Sophomore year, I had switched my major from Sports Medicine to Social Work. I graduated, went on to Graduate School, and became an Child and Adolescent Therapist. Three and a half years later, I found myself in the same place, wondering … am I really good at anything? As an adult, I reverted back to my search, just like I did as a child.

I researched different career fields, hoping to justify a career change, especially after taking out heavy school loans to complete a 2-year Master’s program, which I knew I would be paying back for the next 30 years.  However, I knew one thing, I loved working with people. But, I could not really nail down “why” being a Social Worker was not right for me. Ultimately, I chose the field of Human Resources and spent 15 years in this career. Until about 2 years ago, when once again, I found myself in that same place, wondering…

That was, until September 2014, when I took StrengthsFinder and invested in Coaching. Yep, at 42 years old, two months shy of becoming 43, I discovered my natural born talents.

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis

I didn’t just discover my talents, put my StrengthsFinder report in a drawer, and move on. No, it was much, much, much more than that. I began a journey of self-discovery to learn how to apply my talents to my personal and professional life. Not only did I study the research, read books, invest in coaching, and study successful people, I observed and studied myself. My life!

 What did I gain from this? ANSWERS!

This is why in April of 2015 (a year ago this month); I became a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach. Because, like many of you, I spent many years searching, trying different things, and asking myself the hard questions … all in the attempt to discover one thing, “What am I really good at?” But, this journey has answered much more than just, "What are my talents?"

It revealed to me…My PURPOSE in life!

In both my personal (mom, daughter, friend, partner, colleague) and professional roles (coach, consultant, educator, trainer, writer), my purpose is to inspire, motivate and empower people to discover their natural talents, turn them into strengths and take action to maximize their gifts to be the best of who they were born to be (personally and professionally).

Hence, why I recently published my book: Live Your Life: The Art of Leveraging Your Strengths to Live Your Purpose. Are you ready to find YOUR answers? To learn more and connect with me, please visit: beckiejorgensen.com.

Coming soon: THE TRUTH ~ Myth #2: I MUST FIX MY WEAKNESSES