Discovering Your Giftedness - The Key to Empowerment, Purpose and Fulfillment

Have you ever felt you might be on the wrong path in your career or life?

Something has been gnawing at you from somewhere deep inside, maybe for a long time. There is restlessness, an emptiness – a strong feeling that something is missing. And it has kept you confused and disquieted for quite a while and never seems to go away.

You might succeed in your endeavors but feel listless and unfulfilled. Even the prospect of more money or success while doing the same things fails to excite you as you yearn for something else.

Or maybe you're young and trying to decide which path to take in the work world. Do you prioritize the highest-paying option, your parent's wishes, or the path laid out by your college degree despite lacking enthusiasm for it?

If you ever feel this way, you're not alone. Many people, myself included, have experienced similar feelings at certain points in their lives.

The good news is that I don't feel this way anymore. I get up each day feeling empowered, purposeful and fulfilled. And it wasn't more money, power, status, possessions or accomplishments that caused me to feel this way.

I feel this way because I now understand how God made and gifted me. It's always been there, but I didn't fully understand it. I had to discover it and then find the "highest and best use" of it.

What is Giftedness?

In real estate, my prior profession for 36 years, the concept of "highest and best use" refers to maximizing a property's value and optimizing its contribution to the surrounding community and economy.

In much the same way, I feel that when operating within our "giftedness," we maximize our value and optimize our contribution to the world while, at the same time, finding personal satisfaction and fulfillment in doing what God created us to do.

In his book, "The Person Called You: Why You're Here, Why You Matter and What You Should Do With Your Life," Bill Hendricks, Founder and President of The Giftedness Center, Co-Founder and President of the Global Centre for Giftedness, and Executive Director of Christian Leadership at the Hendricks Center at Dallas Theological Seminary, explains giftedness in the following way -

"Giftedness is the unique way in which you function. It's a set of inborn core strengths and natural motivation you instinctively and consistently use to do things that you find satisfying and productive. Giftedness is not just what you can do but what you are born to do, enjoy doing, and do well.

Your giftedness is not something you acquire or go to school to get. It's just there, in you. You didn't ask for it. You didn't have to pay for it. It's just you.

When you use your giftedness, you don't think about using it, you just use it. It's natural. It's instinctive. You wouldn't think of doing life any other way. Giftedness is not an expectation you have to live up to; it's an expression of who you intrinsically are."

How Do We Discover Our Giftedness?

For several decades, Bill Hendricks, through his company, The Giftedness Center, has focused on helping people discover what they were born to do and then use that insight to make life and career decisions that fit them. In doing so, he applies a proprietary, qualitative process called The System for Identifying Motivated Abilities® (SIMA®) to help people identify their inborn core strengths and natural motivation.

Bill explains -

"Giftedness manifests itself as a pattern of motivation and behavior in your life. That pattern starts expressing itself very early, and you repeat that same basic pattern again and again. The telltale sign that your giftedness is engaged in an activity is that you take joy or satisfaction in doing it. When you're doing what you love to do, you gain energy. You could do it all day long. It doesn't feel like work."

"A giftedness assessment explores various aspects of your functioning, such as learning preferences, decision-making tendencies, interpersonal dynamics, and preferred work environments. It delves into your life experiences and accomplishments to identify patterns that showcase your unique abilities."

Many people are likely already familiar with the many assessments available to help them understand their personality, characteristics or competencies.

However, most of these assessments, while informative, evaluate the person as compared to a norm, as Bill explains –

"Nearly all other assessment approaches describe people in terms of categories, or tendencies, or placement on a scale, or deviation from a statistical "norm." All of that is inherently comparative. But what we need to know is not how you compare to other people; rather, we need to learn what distinguishes you from other people. What makes you uniquely you."

Based on my experience, I've found these other assessments enlightening and supportive. However, my giftedness assessment was impactful and life-changing.

The Benefits of Understanding Your Giftedness

Even though I am analytical and introspective by nature, I could not fully recognize the recurring patterns in my life until I underwent a giftedness assessment with Bill. Thanks to this process, I now understand myself more than ever before. I learned what makes me "tick" - what motivates and drives me.

Without this assessment, I likely would have continued to search aimlessly or possibly made the wrong decisions about my future after selling my real estate company.

Overall, this assessment and Bill's expert counsel have forever changed my perspective on myself, others, and the world around me.

How?

I have another lens to look through that provides clarity - how my giftedness can be best used and how to see the giftedness of others.

I learned that I am a "coach" at my core - that it is something innate, something I "cannot, not do." Coaching has always been a part of what I do, but now it is what I do exclusively. I no longer spend most of my time on things I "can" do and am very good at, but deplete my energy while doing them.

I can better connect with and help those I coach because I always look for signs of their giftedness, recognize the conditions or environments in which they function best, and understand the reasons behind their feelings when not operating within their giftedness.

When my clients hire me to interview people and give feedback, the first thing I look for, after character, aptitude and work ethic, is a "fit" for the company and the person interviewed. The "giftedness lens" better equips me to see this.

As a leader or manager, it enables you to place each person on your team in the right chair so that they can make their highest contribution, thereby enhancing team effectiveness and productivity.

The bottom line is that discovering our giftedness helps to cut through the confusion and provide clarity and understanding of the "ingredients" necessary for identifying not only where and how we fit in this world but also for finding empowerment, purpose, and fulfillment.

It significantly impacted my life and the lives of my kids, my clients and others I know, and it can make a difference in your life, too!

"I've never seen anyone break into tears upon receiving the results of their Myers-Briggs test or DISC profile. But I've seen many people moved to tears when it finally dawns on them what it is they've been trying to express their whole life." – Bill Hendricks