How to Find your One Thing
And why it matters
What would you say you’re good at? Just One Thing!
I remember asking myself this question in 2018 before I re-branded my decade-old blog.
When I started, it was purely as a parenting blogger. My blog was a diary for my thoughts, bringing up my child and cataloguing milestones as they happened. And I absolutely LOVED it too.
However, as the blog grew, so did my child. Alongside that, my concerns for her privacy grew too. I was creating a digital footprint for her and we know that what’s on the internet is forever.
So I painstakingly went back and removed references to her full name on the blog as well as pictures of her that I had shared either on the blog or on social media.
(Again, this is my personal take on being a parenting writer. You have to do what works for you. No judgment. Promise :)
Anyway, coming back to the point, the re-branding exercise forced me to ask myself: What am I good at?
After a bit of soul searching, I discovered that my one thing was my ability to connect with my audience and teach other people how to do the same.
This helped me decide my one thing and it was finally crystal clear:
I was/am/will be a coach.
So, you may be wondering how I came to this understanding.
Here are three tips to help you discover your one thing.
FINDING YOUR PURPOSE/ROLE
TIP 1: What do you LIKE to write about?
Any time I felt stuck, all I had to do was take a mental break and close my eyes and write about the things that came naturally to me. I like to write about blogging tips, authentic engagement and time management. Everything else takes a bit of effort and yes, that includes book reviews.
Although I have a degree in Literature and can do deep, incisive reviews of books, I prefer not to do them on the blog, because, well, people are touchy. It’s not quite the same as analysing an author who is long gone from the face of the earth.
I am still very honest when it comes to reviews though. But I restrict that to my Goodreads page.
So, I zeroed in on Blogging and Social media simplified, inspired by mindful productivity.
TIP 2: What do you like to talk about with authority, on your social media channels?
Have you ever felt uncomfortable talking about something on your social media channels? Where you feel that what you say may be received with criticism or flak?
Conversely, have you written confidently about something, irrespective of the response you got?
For me, the latter is true of time management tips, organic growth and building a loyal audience through your content.
The former is true of food or fashion, simply because I know that there are people more qualified to talk about those things. So, for my own sanity and also to be sure I deliver the absolute best in terms of help, I pulled back from speaking about these things on Instagram or Facebook.
The only caveat is if I link a topic to something about habit building (like I did in this post).
TIP 3: Finding the ONE thing
Now that you have the first two tips covered, it comes down to the most important point and for that, you just have to listen to your audience.
In my case, I recall running a poll on Instagram way back and asking the question: ‘If I ever started a podcast, what would you like me to talk about?’
And to my delight, almost 75% of the responses mentioned ‘Productivity/ Time Management/ Habit building’.
The best part is I hadn’t even picked that as my original choice for a possible podcast. But to know that people actually trusted my tips when it came to time management sealed my belief in that idea.
Similarly, when I went back and checked which posts of mine on Instagram had the highest engagement/questions, they turned out to be habit-building and productivity posts.
You want to know a secret? I’ve always been more than slightly obsessed with time. From leaving the house on time to reaching venues before time; from making sure I was well in time for my classes to tapping my foot impatiently when my students walked in late.
WAIT! Does this mean I am asking you to only focus on ONE thing?
Not necessarily.
Remember, I do talk about blogging, Pinterest and email marketing too.
But the unifying principle among all those topics is that I learnt how to break it down into simple terms and teach other people using the same techniques.
That means you must find the one thing you are good at and then apply it to every sphere of your life and work.
This exercise is to just help you discover what is the one thing you can confidently tell people that you’re good at. More importantly, this is the way you get OTHER people to confirm what you are good at and build upon that principle.
SO, it’s your turn to tell me: What is the ONE thing you are good at?
Take your time to think it over and let me know. I’d love to help you figure it out in my free Facebook group.
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