Take Inventory of Your Strengths

How will you add value to my team? What distinguishes you from the other candidates? What skills and strengths do you bring to this job? A predictable line of questioning, yet few of us are prepared to provide memorable answers. If you're seeking better answers, I suggest taking inventory of your strengths and best moments. As Arthur Ashe was known to say, "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." Three options are listed below:

#1. Go to Authentichappiness.org. Take the VIA - Values in Action. This scale identifies signature character strengths and virtues. Strengths that come so naturally, we are sometimes unaware of them. See the graphic above.

#2. Go to Gallupstrengthscenter.com. Take the Gallup StrengthsFinder2.0. This report identifies one's unique combination of strengths as applied in life and the workplace.

#3. Make a list of My Best Moment Stories (titles only). For example, when you finished something you desperately wanted to quit, showed up to a company event when it was late and inconvenient because a team member needed the support, overcame anxiety before presenting to a national audience, met an annual goal in record time, mastered Excel Pivot Tables, Macros, and V and H Lookups in a single weekend, met an impossible customer request to deliver a product to China, generously gave your time on Thanksgiving Day serving meals to the homeless, and all the times you earned trust and respect from stakeholders, customers, peers, family and friends.

Being able to identify your strengths and recall your best moments will distinguish you and equip you with best version of yourself when it matters most.