Top 3 Skills
Self reflection has always been a difficult practice for me. I have always found introspection challenging, and it’s consistently been a struggle to navigate between identifying skills that can be productive and helpful, and skills that may only seem important but are in essence inconsequential. In addition to simply misidentifying what I’m good at, I’ve constantly been worried about how presenting myself and what I’m good at will be perceived by those around me. Today (with inspiration behind me) I toss any remaining inhibition about appearing overconfident in my abilities to the side, as I lay out 3 of my top skills that set me apart and will serve constructively in any future efforts.
Adaptability
As someone who is still anxiously searching and working towards finding a singular passion in life, I believe I have and maintain a proficiency in the ability to adapt to a multitude of situations. Going back to my teenage years, I was often one to try new things that yielded fairly quick success. As a junior in high school I tried out for the varsity tennis team as a new player to the sport, and ended up competing on the varsity squad for the next two years. The next year as a senior I auditioned for the school musical, and ended up in the lead role. In the workforce, I have found myself as both a member of a crew, and as a self-directed individual contract worker. I’ve dug ditches for a communications company, served coffee in a customer service setting, and now I am currently working as a direct-support professional in a group home setting. Vastly different skillsets were required to fill these positions, and yet I have done so with glowingly positive results. Through these different scenarios, I have found that I have developed the willingness to set my ego aside and fulfill whatever role is deemed necessary. Need a leader or a visionary? I believe I have the drive to succeed as the number 1 guy. Need a right hand man? I will happily take orders and complete someone else’s vision. Need someone to stack chairs or any other grunt work? I will also be that guy. It’s true that to this point I have limited experience in a professional setting, yet I have full confidence that my experiences have contributed to the establishment of not just a flexible skillset, but more importantly, a flexible mindset as well.
Communication
If you were to ask those closest to me in my life, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would label me as much of a talker; however, I believe that efficient communication is something I have become very accomplished at. I grew up in the church, and was constantly aware of the phrase “seek to understand before seeking to be right”. I do my best to live this out in my daily life, and not a day goes by where I’m not benefitting from high quality communication skills. Most people have a tendency to communicate by talking, while I think I have the headspace to understand that the best way to communicate is by listening – listening to everything going on around me, and then responding appropriately. Working in the direct care field, I constantly come across scenarios where passions are running high, and effective communication is thrown to the wayside. Being the responsible staff, it’s up to me to calm everyone’s emotions and get to the root of the problem. From there we can then move to attack it as a team, us vs. the problem, rather than the traditional person vs. person squabble. Through practice both in the workforce and in my personal life, I think I have refined a valuable social awareness, which often helps me solve a vast array of problems through effective communication.
Patience
Patience does not come easily (duh). I consider myself to be a very patient person, but I could not look someone in the face and honestly say that I have always been this way. As I’ve mentioned above, working in the direct care field has seemingly provided more than enough practice at being patient for a whole lifetime. For the uninitiated in this area, let me be the first to tell you that working with older guys whose level of functionality is in constant decline is not a walk in the park. There are days where I perceive that I’ve done nothing wrong, but in that moment there is nothing I can say to get back on the guys’ good sides. And I get it – to constantly have staff coming in and out of your house and your life, telling you what to do and also what not to do, it must be incredibly frustrating. Through nearly a calendar year of working in this industry and dealing with the constant trials and tribulations that come with it, I am now able to most of the time take a step back when dealing with confrontation, and try to perceive the problem from all sides. My perspective has shifted dramatically since the beginning of my work, as I see things on a daily basis in a light I thought previously impossible. While I tailored these skills to the level of understanding I work with consistently, I believe I can have a positive effect on a project or on a workplace as a whole through the abilities I obtained and practice on a daily basis. While currently undervalued in the workforce, I believe patience is an essential quality for any successful person and will contribute to any and all success I encounter moving forward.
Though I believe I have many more skills to offer, these are just a few of the abilities I have worked on to help create value for myself and for many others in the future.