Act 134:
“It’s never too late… To Use Your Skills
We possess many skills. Many more than we admit. Even to ourselves. We’ve taken much time and energy to acquire them. Don’t ignore them. Don’t waste them. Take pride in them. Use them when they’re called for.” – Patrick Lindsay
Quote in book: “Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.” ~Proverb
Hmm… when I saw this Act I was like… what skills do I have that I can talk about? I’m good at puzzles. I’m good at figuring out things. I am a systems engineer after all. So, I use my skills of deductive reasoning and my puzzle solving to help me at my job. I need to make sure all the technical issues get resolved in a way that all sides can live with it. Notice I didn’t say “happy” but “live” with it. Most of the time, I’ve found that if the solution means everyone has to compromise and no one is truly happy with the outcome, then it’s probably a good solution. That’s another thing I have to do. I need to convince all the parties that it’s ok and smooth things over with leadership if we have to compromise some of the things we wanted. So, I guess that’s a skill right? I don’t know what to call it, but it is a skill.
I’m trying to think about all the other skills I have. I’m very organized. I’m very detail oriented. I’m very anal. These also help me with my job. The other thing that helps me is that I have a good memory. I’m pretty good at remembering minute details… what people said in previous conversations...names and faces. When I was in Business school at the opening residential, I made it a point to break out of my shell and be more like my brother. So, since I am so good with names, it was my goal to meet all of the other 59 people in my section and learn each of their names by the end of the 4 days of our residential. I accomplished my goal and I knew everyone by name and face by the end of the residential.
Let’s see what else… I’ve already said this one in another blog – but I have a good ear for music and melodies. I can cook. I can sew. I can scrap book. I used to dabble w/ candle making. That’s right I’m like a little Susie homemaker. It’s a little known fact how good I am at that stuff. I think the only thing I’m not that great at is baking. I can do it, but it’s not my first choice. I think the baked good I make taste good, but I think if my heart was in it more…. It would taste better. Although, I did make a grape pie the other day. That’s right I said GRAPE pie. It was amazingly good! If you ever have too many grapes left over and want to make a pie, let me know and I’ll send you the recipe.
I know this blog is supposed to be about using your skills. I think I do a pretty good job at using the skills I have to help propel myself and to help make a better life for myself. I think that what I need to do is to improve on the skill set that I have and develop new skills. So – here are the things I’m not skilled at…. Time management. Drawing. Poem writing. Writing in general. I’m gonna try to improve on these things and develop them (well maybe not the drawing one.. that will be pretty hard). I think the one skill that I want and that I know I can accomplish if I work hard enough is being able to play a musical instrument. So, I’m gonna make it a goal of mine after I finish this blog series to start learning to play an instrument.
What skills are you good at? And how do you use them to improve your life? Did you find like I did that you ended up in a field or working in an area that used your skill set? It was a natural jump for me. Maybe this is why I love my job. Is that maybe why other people are unhappy with their jobs? Hmm, interesting.. Anyway, if you can’t use the skills you are good at at work. Then use them in your everyday life to make yourself happy. Cause skills are both learned and they are natural, but all skills have to be utilized to continue to be skills. So don’t lose what you are good at, because of non-use. Use your skill set and continue to expand it. You never know when you might need certain skills in your life and you can never have too many! =)
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