Searching my full potential?
Since childhood, I remember teachers and family telling me I had a great potential, I imagine most of us had this comments coming from our families, so how could we fail to reach their expectations? Once we become adults we all wish to have the job of our dreams, is it not? Institutions and family have promised us once we finish university all our problems would be solve and we would land the job we wished for. However times have changed, the market has changed and competition has risen. Where do we fit? I have spoken with many young professionals just like me, who found it hard to deal with the current professional pressure we have in our society. Once I finished university I felt like just getting a job for the experience and learning regardless of what would I be doing. Basically I just wanted to get paid. I had the motivation, ambition and curiosity but I had a major weakness: I was feeling insecure and wasn’t feeling ready. I tend to believe that many have gone through the same feeling and felt quite lost and insecure once they finished university. For all the above-mentioned having “just” a job is becoming more and more a top priority. A mere reflection of the way the market is heading. Fear is taking over new talents and preventing them from developing, preventing them to look for new challenges and worst of all stopping them from making decisions. Professionals rather choose a path of security than applying creative and innovative solutions as no one wants to face consequences that might result from failure. During my professional experience I have witnessed professionals who had tremendous potential and talent but they wouldn’t dare to take the initiative to propose new solutions, new processes or even challenge the way things were being done. Not only have I witnessed, but I have also been that guy. Doing only what we are told to do limits evolution. To evolve we need to learn from failure but at the same time there is not much space for failure nowadays. After 7 years working international I decided to take a gap year to breathe and focus on myself and start making my own choices and be in control of my professional career.
The first step I addressed during this gap year was: “Find something you love to do?”
I bet you heard this loads of times, but how to find what do we really love to do? You need to know yourself first and identify what are your major strengths and weaknesses. Develop your strengths, refine them, express them, and deal with your flaws. Turn into a better version of you everyday. We tend to see ourselves differently from how other people see us, and nowadays it is very beautiful to say, “we are who we are” but more and more it is becoming “we are as people see us” and first impressions do matter. For example, we only have one shot at interviews and it all comes down to minutes. The more you know about yourself the easier it will be for you to express yourself. I realize one of the best ways to know myself is by talking to my social circle: asking friends, colleagues and family about what is the perception they have of me. One other technique I use to know myself and improve is writing down adversity moments I have been through, what I have done to surpass it and ask questions about what could I have done better.
We are who we are and we can be who we want to be as long we have a plan, a strategy and we work hard and consistently to reach our goals.
Hope you find my sharing helpful and please write me in case you would like to share your experiences or if you would like my opinion.
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