Personal Skills - What You Bring To Life

Personal skills - what are they and do we have them? We may not think we have values in life yet we have the principles and standards that we live by. We may not think we have talents but we have strengths, and those we bring to life.

In the same way we have our strengths, those things we enjoy, those things we are good at. And we also have personal skills, and those we bring to the table of life, too.

What can they be?

What personal-skills can we have? They can be many and varied

• they can be an ability you have that you can use
• they can be an aptitude we show for something
• they can be a capability that we discover and add to our arsenal
• they can be something that we find that we are competent at
• they can be something that utilizes our manual dexterity
• they can be something that our experience enables us to utilize
• they can be a gift that we possess
• they can be a knack that we somehow have developed
• they can be something that uses our know-how to good advantage
• they can be something that we have practiced and mastered over time
• they can be something that our knowledge has opened up to us
• they can be part of our job or occupation or trade
• they can form a proficiency that we have developed as part of our professional life
• they can be something that training has brought to the fore
• they can be a talent that we have always used or recently discovered

Looking at personal skills in this way shows us that we can all possess them. Our challenge is to dust them off and use them to good advantage in life.

A definition of a skill

How can we define these personal skills that we all possess - (or the ones we are yet to discover)?

• something you practice, for what is a skill if never used?
• something you enjoy, for if we cannot enjoy our skills what can we enjoy?
• something that is productive - and this can mean many things; we can make something, adapt something, contribute to something, share something
• something of use - both to others and ourselves; and let us think of this in an easy going sense; contributing by helping or assisting others is just as important as leading the way
• something that can be developed further
• something for which other uses can be found
• New opportunities

Being skilful and utilizing those skills both for ourselves and the common good will open up new opportunities for us in life. Realizing that we do have abilities and the wherewithal to use them can herald a new era in our life.

Our contribution

Making a contribution to life through our own individual efforts can bring many benefits and its own rewards. Here are some of them

• the confidence to try new things
• the motivation to back up our confidence
• setting goals and achieving them becomes part of our everyday life
• the realization we can put our talents, strengths and skills to good effect
• the understanding that continuing our self development will open up new avenues and opportunities
• the discipline and control to use our time and skills to best effect
• our behavior will reflect our confidence and esteem in life
• we will be happy that our personality is nicely balanced and in tune with our life
• we will reap the benefits of our continued growth
• we will feel better as a result of our enhanced self worth
• we can achieve the balance in life that we have always wanted
• personal skills are to be used

Dormant or fully used?

What is the point of having personal skills if they lay hidden or unused? Do we not lose a little of ourselves in not utilizing our skills and strengths?

Doing something on our own is fine, but is it not better to share and contribute, to give freely and not just be selfish and take. Though we can do things on our own, teamwork is the thing that can get some things going. Working together with others, sharing the effort and hard work as well as the results and glory, is another experience we should all discover and enjoy.

But I don't think I have any skills . . .

We look around and we can see others working away, really enjoying themselves - and utilizing their skills and strengths at the same time. And we wonder whether we can join them. But we are not certain how we can do that.

Perhaps we need to look at our life and see the good we have done. See the people we have affected by our actions, our deeds, our words. See the contributions we have made.

See the things we are interested in. See the things we enjoy. See the things we have an aptitude for or with.

See the direction our life is going. See the new opportunities ahead of us. See the areas where we can make a real contribution.

Look back and realize . . .

And looking back at what we have done and what we are now doing we will be able to see the skills we have – no matter what they are. They are our ability to make a difference.

Look at them more closely and see what they are. Look for ways you can use them. It can be a little here and a little there. It does not have to be a huge project, though if that is your forte then go for it.

But just see what you can do. How you can help. How you can direct the play of life. How you can influence the things happening around you.

Make your move . . .

Then get started - and enjoy the journey. Stretch yourself a little. Give a little. Give of yourself. And you will see how life has its way of rewarding you.

Be it in new opportunities. Be it in new avenues opening up. Be it in new paths becoming visible or old paths becoming clearer.

Let yourself go into this future that is yours. And enjoy yourself being yourself and utilizing all that you have been given and have developed - your personal skills among them. Share a bit of yourself and see where life takes you.

Meaning and purpose

We all look for satisfaction in life. We all want to enjoy our life. We all are trying to get the most out of things. We can find direction and purpose in the things we do. And if they stretch us, if they challenge us, and we meet those hurdles we feel the better for it.

And if we give of ourselves we may be surprised at what can happen. We can get enthused by life while we act in the greater good. Being skilful is one of pleasures in life. And, remembering we are all different in our abilities and aptitudes, allow ourselves to let our personal skills be used. Let ourselves flower and blossom with the passage of time and our contribution both to our own life and also the life in which we find ourselves.

Allow your personal skills to come forth and make the difference in life that only you can.