What Are You BEST At?

Most of us can easily rattle off a list of things that we are not good at doing.

I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. I can’t braid hair (even as a father of 3 girls).

I can’t run/jog. That’s one reason I study the martial arts.

If you saw earlier versions of this blog, you might have noticed that I have trouble using the right words at times.

These are just a few of the things I can not do (well).

I didn’t want to keep listing all my short comings since that list is long and would probably bore you. We might share some items on that list. You might share the three that I mentioned.

When I ask you (and myself) what you are the best at, there was probably a pause followed by the words “nothing really”.

Why We Have Trouble Seeing What We Do

In his book*, Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur, Derek Sivers asks a very important question. He asks “How do you grade yourself?”

This is so important to understanding what we are B.E.S.T. at doing.

What’s obvious to me is amazing to someone else
~ Derek Sivers

Doing your B.E.S.T. is about you and how you grade yourself. Don’t worry about how others do that same activity.

Jon Acuff reminds us to “Never compare your beginning to someone else’s middle. Comparison is poison.”

Compare who you are to your potential self. Are you doing the B.E.S.T. you can do right now?

The Meaning Being the B.E.S.T.

The acronym B.E.S.T. is about looking at events and activities in your life and then taking time to describe them.

When you look at a 6-12 of them, take time to write about them.

After you have written about at least three activities in your life, apply the B.E.S.T. test to them.

Bold Actions or Words

When you describe what you do, what words do you use? Look at those verbs and activities that you do.

When I look at my list, I see words like help, teach, explain, community, train, and organize.

I find that I’m at my best when I am engaged in a helping people learn and while doing so in community.

Engagement

Where you feel engaged?

Or to think of it in the opposite. Where do you feel drained?

For me, it’s in large crowds of strangers. The drainage of energy is almost palpable.

Satisfaction Happens When…

Satisfaction is defined as “fulfillment of one’s wishes, expectations, or needs, or the pleasure derived from this.”

What do you wish for, expect, or need?

For me, I find pleasure and satisfaction in learning a new topic. I wish that I can communicate my thoughts to others via the written word. When someone comments or shares something I wrote, I find great satisfaction in that.

When I get a website to look the way I or my client wants, I take pleasure in that.

What about you?

Time ceases to Exist When…

What have you done when you get lost in that activity and time flies by?

My middle daughter can spend hours and hours crafting and making miniatures. For her, time doesn’t exist when she is in her creative realm.

For me, this is when I am reading and taking notes about a subject that I’m studying. Or when I am coding a website.

What About You?

Will you take the time to think about and write out what you’re B.E.S.T. at?

You might be surprised by the words that keep popping up.

Would love to hear in the comments below what words you used most often.

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This is a modified version of a post that was originally posted on my previous blog, FaceYourGoliaths.com