That is not true. You are unique.
So, what makes you unique? Your values, your personality, and many other ingredients combined with your life story and personal experience. In this article, I will give you a lot of concrete tools to get to know yourself better and then how to show it to the world! Don’t stop reading here, as you are about to discover a lot about what makes you so unique! Ready?
The first step, as always, is AWARENESS. Easy to remember! If you want to know yourself better, you first need to explore and get to know who you are - to understand what makes you unique, here are the important elements to explore:
1. Get to know your personality.
Your personality is defined by the way you think, feel and behave. It is critical that you understand how you function as a very unique individual. You will discover some areas that are serving you/driving you and others that I call ‘areas of improvements,’ where there is room for you to grow.
How do you get to know your personality? Doing a personality test is a very good option. Many of them exist like MBTI, NEO, Insights, HOGAN etc. For most of them, you need a certified coach to order it and debrief it with you. The value of doing it with a coach is obviously high as you will get a better understanding, and the coach can also help you understand the subtleties that you may not see straight away on your own.
As an alternative to these great renowned test, there is a fun one to do, which you can do on your own: It is called 16 personalities. Click here to access the online test.
2. Get to know your values.
Values are at the core of everything we do and they represent what is important to us. Knowing them is KEY to build your branding.
To define your values, take a pen and a paper and make a list of your 10 most important values. For inspiration, you can have a look at this list.
Put them somewhere nicely and always refer to them. In defining what makes you unique, it is important that you include your values.
3. Get to know your skills.
Distinction Hard Skills/ Soft Skills
What are you good at? Here is, once again, a very critical point. We are talking here about Hard skills AND Soft skills. Both of them are equally important. Hard skills are a must-have. Soft skills are what make the difference. Let’s take a closer look.
Exemple: Hard skill: I can deliver webinars. (I know how to do it)
Soft Skills: In my webinar, I include everyone, I use humor to share my ideas, I give people concrete exercises to put them in action, etc.
That’s what makes me unique, not the fact that I can deliver seminars. You got me here?
Write down your soft skills on a piece of paper.
Your natural skills are your gift!
I hear too many times: ‘This is so easy for me, it is not even a skill.’ However, this is exactly where your uniqueness is! What is most natural for you is where your most natural motivations are!
As an exercise, I would suggest doing 2 columns: one with what you are good at/one with what you love to do. The combination of both is your strengths.
4. Get to know your motivations.
What is motivating you? What do you love to do in life? What makes you wake up in the morning?
To understand what makes you unique, you need to know what are your inner motivations.
How to do that? I suggest a couple of options:
Do your Ikigai
IKIGAI is a Japanese concept that means ‘reason of being.’ It is referring to having a direction or purpose in life, towards which you take action. It aims to provide satisfaction and a sense of meaning.
I strongly recommend doing your ikigai if you are looking for your passion, fulfillment in your career. It may be challenging on your own, so getting help to put it all together would be definitely beneficial.
Go on your inner-child exploration: Your inner child has many answers to those questions you are asking yourself, he/she knows what your most natural motivations are. Exploring them can definitely give you many insights. I organize workshops on these topics on a regular basis. Follow me on Linkedin or Instagram to stay tuned about the next dates!
5. Add your Story & Life Experience
Knowing yourself is definitely critical to define your uniqueness. To that, you need to add your story and life experience. The combination of all the ingredients listed above and your life experience makes you a special person with UNIQUE characteristics.
What did you experience in your life? What did you learn from your previous jobs? Which strengths did you develop? What did you learn from your mistakes?
Everything that you have done and experienced shaped you and made you who you are today.
When looking for a job or the next steps in your professional career, defining your uniqueness is a process that will definitely help build your professional project.
6. Make your final statement
Now that you have reflected on the points above, please make a statement about yourself. A short paragraph that describes why you are unique. Think:
What do you want others to remember about you?
This statement is very important as you will say it each time you need to communicate about yourself.
Why is getting feedback so important?
The Johari windows concept describes this best.
As you can see on the scheme, getting feedback helps us see our blind spots - the areas that we are not able to see ourselves. You will be surprised what you can discover about yourself by asking others what they see in you!
Here is your exercise:
Contact 10 people around you (colleagues, friends, family, boss, etc).
Explain to them that you are working on your branding and unique value proposition. And ask them the following:
‘If you would describe me in one word or sentence, what would it be?’
‘What is my uniqueness according to you?’
See the similarities/differences between your statement/discoveries you have made earlier and the results you got from your feedback. What do you learn about yourself? What can you include in your statement?
Once you have done all these steps, it is very important that you finalize your statement. What makes you unique?
Be aware of the image you give others, your reputation. At work, with friends, on social media, etc. Your reputation shapes how others perceive you in a positive or negative way. You need to be consistent in your communication and behavior.
Work on your uniqueness! Others need to see what you want them to see about you. Reshape your CV, social media, communication that others get a clear image of your branding. What do you want them to remember about you/ what do you want others to say about you?
Last but not least, don’t be shy! You are incredible and the world needs you. Show your strengths and make them shine! Don’t hide your uniqueness, because you are afraid to show off or whatsoever. Look at all the people that did great things in this world. They were not afraid of talking about their beliefs/ projects/ dreams!
I hope that you learned a lot about yourself from this article.
Believe in yourself and just spread the word!
If you want to explore more, do not hesitate to contact me! Talk soon 🙂
BONUS
If you are reading this paragraph, you deserve a bonus 😉 Here you will find links to online tests you can do to get to know yourself better. Don’t forget, it is a great start, but debriefing them with a coach will definitely increase the value of what you will get out of it:
In this article, I propose to talk about the ‘HOW.’ That’s why I designed it like a mini-workshop that we will do together. Be kind to yourself. You won’t find all the answers today. But even if you do one exercise, it will already be a step towards the job of your dreams.
Before we get started, I would like to share with you WHY it is SO IMPORTANT to do a job we love.
"For several reasons and mainly for one: We spend ⅓ of our life at work. "
Even nowadays, work has almost become life as it is so present in our home. The line between home and work became very thin. Since the pandemic, my living room has become my working room as well. How will it be in the future? It is still uncertain. One thing is for sure, our approach towards work will evolve, and I am convinced that doing a job we love will become even more important for our life balance and well being.
If we put it into perspective, we work for the biggest part of our life. I often give the example of my Dad. He is doing a job he hates for more than 30 years now. He will be retired by the end of the year, and he literally has a countdown on his phone! I don’t even talk about the sleepless nights, medicines, financial and personal worries he had to suffer all these years. The result is here today at 63 years old: he cannot anymore.
"Now, tell me how old are you?"
If you are less than 45 years old, it is still worth it to change towards a career that will fulfill you. You still have a minimum of 15 years to work!
Making the steps to the job you love today is very important because TODAY, you can change something. Don’t wait for retirement to save you from all this! Take the chance to live a fulfilled life. This will also allow you to shine and spread this happiness to people around you: your family, your friends, your colleagues, but also to people that will benefit from it: your future clients, your potential partners, etc.
If you are more than 45 years old, don’t stop reading this article now! It is never too late to find inspiration, a passion, something that will bring joy in your life for the coming years. Your ‘active career’ may soon be over, but a new career will start soon: the one you choose for yourself! Not for your family's financials or well being, not to prove anything to anyone, but because you want to do it for you! Talking about my dad, he will now start a totally new chapter and become a politician!
Knowing all that, it goes without saying that having a job we love is crucial to be happy and live a meaningful life. Therefore it is important to take action today to reach this amazing goal.
So, how to get a job I love? Take a pen, a piece of paper, and let’s get started!
"Our values are at the core of everything we are, and we do."
They drive us to act in this or that way. Being aware of them is key in the process of finding a job that we love. I can tell you for sure that it is impossible to love a job that doesn’t align with our core values!
So what can you do now?
This list will help and guide you while looking for the job you love. In your job search, never disconnect from it and always refer to it as a precious golden book.
To identify our motivations, it is interesting to look back at what motivated us in the past.
Here I suggest taking a few moments to look at your previous jobs and understand what was driving you in each job. Why were you happy to go to work? What was your motivation about?
Make, what I call, a ‘360 wheel’ on the different elements of your work:
work environment | tasks & purpose | work domain | financials & other benefits (holidays, flexible working) | others
For example: In my previous job, I loved that I had great colleagues, the place where I worked was beautiful; I was independent in my job, etc.
All these drivers should be closely related to the values you defined earlier. In my case, harmony is very important for me, and I can see that through what I loved about my previous jobs.
A powerful tool to know your drivers is to go back to your childhood life: What did you love to do as a child? Where did you love to hang out? What were you drawing? Which game were you playing? Who did you want to become?
The answers to these questions hide so MANY treasures.
I give you a concrete example. When I was young, I wanted to become a teacher. I always wanted to ‘play teacher.’ Today, it is not about saying that I should be a teacher, but to analyze this information: What did I love so much about being a teacher?
I loved to explain things, pass on knowledge, talk to an audience, help other people, etc.
If I look at my job today, I can find many of these ingredients: I explain a lot of things/concepts to my coachees, I share with them the knowledge I have acquired as a coach by writing and talking, I talk to an audience by organizing workshops, making videos, etc.
Do you understand my point?
So now it is time to do it for yourself:
Now I am curious. How was it to do this exercise?
It is interesting to see how our inner child can come up with simple answers to complex thoughts in our head, don’t you agree?
Exploring your drivers certainly gave you a lot of insights about yourself! Now it seems a bit overwhelming with all the information you have. That’s why it is important to structure it into an action plan.
"Thoughts need to be followed by actions to have an impact."
That’s why I suggest putting your ideas into an action plan.
I advise you to use the following guidelines and write down:
Here I am only giving examples of some actions, but you should create your own action plan. The actions you write down need to make sense for you. Don’t forget that all the answers are inside you.
When writing down your action plan, think about what is going on in the world right now with the COVID situation: what will be the future trends? The needs of our society? How will you have an impact doing what you love? Integrate these reflections into your action plan. In my case, for instance, I had to rethink the way I wanted to coach & market myself: online coaching is now the trend, digital content creation is key for visibility, networking online is critical as events are not happening, etc.
Once you have written your action plan, share it with someone else. It is very important to say it out loud. It holds you accountable. Share it and talk about it as much as you can! Then you will be trapped in the ‘do what you say,’ that’s what we want 😉
So guys, this is what I wanted to share with you to get the job YOU love. YOU have all the answers in you. You have to dig inside to find them!
I hope these concrete exercises will help you, and if you want to go further, keep in mind that I am here to help as well, so reach out!
Last but not least, if you have read this article until the end, that means that you are very motivated to find a job you love. My advice to you is: don’t give up on this dream! Continue to search and search and search, and I promise YOU will find it! My mom always said to me:
‘Who seeks finds!’
One thing is for sure, if you don’t do anything, nothing will happen.
You are driving the ship.
Don’t forget, it is a journey. Enjoy the ride and be kind to yourself.
It is a long process of self-discovery, doubts and challenges. I know how it feels! That is why I have decided to make my life mission to help people find their passion.
In my journey as a coach, I discovered that when we are lost in our lives, it is often because we lost the connection to our inner child. I am convinced that we find many hidden treasures and natural motivations in the exploration of our childhood’s dreams/life.
In my interview today, Camille will share her story with us. She says: ‘I AM AT THE RIGHT PLACE TODAY’. How powerful is this feeling?!
Camille and I met in Singapore 8 years ago. Back then, she was working in marketing and I was in Business development.
Camille recently came back to France and decided to go back to school! In both ways: to study first and then to teach!
I was curious to know how she made it happen from ‘This was my dream’ to ‘This is my job’. Many steps, obstacles must have come on her way, so how did she make it happen? We will get many learnings from her journey. Let’s listen to her answers.
Camille: After getting my diploma in marketing, I went to Singapore for personal and professional reasons.
I started my first job in marketing, and it was an amazing experience!
When I was studying in Business School, my dream was to work in luxury marketing and become a manager at 30 years old. I wanted to have these clear career steps. At that time, it was the perfect job for me.
After a while, I asked myself if I was really happy about my job. I didn’t have a lot of holidays, I couldn’t spend a lot of time with my family, I was questioning the balance between my professional & personal life.
For many years, I was thinking of becoming a teacher or trainer. I had the opportunity to train teams in my job and I loved to share my knowledge, help people to improve, give them advice and be more connected to the ‘human side’ of business.
Three years ago, one of my friends - who did the same business school as me - reconverted as a teacher. And at that time I thought: ‘WOW, very lucky!’.
"You know, sometimes you see people that can do the job you really want and succeed at it."
At that time, the main barrier for me was that I had to be in France to pass the exam to become a teacher.
So when my husband got a job opportunity in France, I had to quit my job and I thought that this could be a chance for me to do something else. We returned to France, and I was happy to find a balance and spend more time with my kids.
Yet, after 7 months without a salary, I finally decided to get back a job in marketing. I didn’t want to give up my dream to become a teacher, so I registered online to pass the state exam. On average, it takes about a year to prepare for this exam. Unfortunately, I had NO TIME to prepare for it: I had a full-time job, my husband was working a lot and 2 kids at home.
Months passed and the Corona crisis arrived. My company put me on partial unemployment.
I thought that this was maybe the time to think about my project. I took online courses, worked day and night and finally passed the exam after only a few months of preparation!
I was thinking about this project for a very long time.
Different events happened to push me to make it happen.
Coming back from Singapore to France opened the door for me to become a teacher. Still, I decided to find a job in marketing for financial reasons.
But I would say that the real trigger was the lockdown.
I remember watching TV and thinking that essential workers like doctors, nurses and teachers were helping people in a difficult period. In the meantime, I was thinking about my professional purpose and wondering what I was doing in marketing?
I always wanted to do something that makes me happy. I was asking myself: Are you really happy about what you are doing? What is the next step for me?
Now I am 30 years old and I work in marketing, like I imagined. I arrived at the point where I wanted to be. I couldn’t find my next step anymore!
Suddenly I thought: ‘That’s the time!’ If I don’t do it now, I will never do it.
I thought that this was maybe the time to think about my project. I took online courses, worked day and night and finally passed the exam after only a few months of preparation!
Yes, of course! This little voice was telling me: 'I am already 32 years old, my life is comfortable now, I have the experience, stability, etc.' or 'If I try, maybe I will not succeed.'
There are a lot of doubts coming to your mind.
But then I said to myself: 'I will try! And if it doesn't work, I will go back to my old job.'
There were also some challenges in my life at this moment: I had 2 kids at home, my husband was still working, I had to take care of the household, etc.
Having the support of my husband and my family was very important to overcome this period. And as I said earlier, I studied day and night!
On top of that I had to prepare for the exam, but I didn't even know where and how to start: which book to read, etc.
It was difficult. I did some online research and joined a Facebook community to find a lot of advice and information. I suddenly didn’t feel alone anymore. I realized that we were many people in the same situation.
Joining a community was very helpful.
Yes, and talking about the project was very helpful as well. Talking about it to family and friends to get their support is key. My husband even said to me: ‘Try. You have nothing to lose!’
I was thinking about my kids. I wanted them to be proud of me.
Besides, I had this project for many years, but I was too busy in my daily life. I liked my job, but there was something missing. I wanted to do more of my life.
Reflecting on that, I am grateful that it happens now and not before. Six years ago, I didn’t have the same experience and maturity.
Yes! When I was very young, like many girls, I wanted to be a teacher. My mom was a teacher, my grandfather was a teacher, I was always in classes with them. Yet, my mom never pushed me in that direction.
Growing up, I then wanted to be a pediatrician - doctor for children.
It was always about children actually!
And you became a mom quite young as well!
That's interesting. Your family passed on to you the passion for working with children, you grew up spending a lot of time in classrooms, but you didn't go in this direction immediately. You took another path, went abroad, explored yourself and now you go back to your roots in a way!
Exactly! 🙂
It's very funny that you ask me this question. The children arrived and they said 'Good morning teacher!'.
"At this exact moment, at the first second, I felt: I am at the right place today."
I was not thinking anymore like I did in the past 'what am I doing here?' I was thinking I am going to bring them something and they will bring me something.
That’s so powerful! You knew in a second that you were at the right place.
When we doubt and we are not sure, it is because it is not the right place for us. That means we have to keep searching, keep looking to find this unique feeling to be at the right place.
Thank you so much, Camille, for sharing! I am sure that your story will resonate with many people.
You have to listen to your little voice, the positive one! Stop thinking about ‘one day, one day, one day…’ Time flies. You have to take time to think about what you really want to do.
"The first step is to try, not to succeed."
Don’t be afraid of what people will think about you. You need to try one time, two times, enough times until you succeed. It is very important not to try to not have any regrets.
Finally, surround yourself with people that give you good motivation and talk about the project! There is no stupid project.
In a nutshell: TRY NOW! Thank you, Camille & we wish you all the best in your professional journey! 🙂
If you are also wondering about changing your career to something that is more meaningful to you, here are the key learnings we take away from Camille’s story:
Time & money are the 2 biggest challenges people face:
Support: it is very important to get the support of people that are close to you.
Mindset: Don’t be afraid to fail or fear what others will think about you. Just try! You have nothing to lose. As Nelson Mandela was saying, ‘I never fail, either I win, or I learn.’
If you don’t know your next move yet, explore your childhood’s dreams/life: what did you love to do as a child? Where did you love to hang out? Where were your parents working? How connected did you feel to their jobs growing up? By asking yourself these questions, you will find many answers, I promise!
Remember to be kind with yourself, you are on a journey.
And one day, I promise that you will have this feeling, too: ‘I am at the right place today’.
Suddenly, everything will make sense...