8 Simple Ways to Identify Your Strengths and Find What You’re Good At

Today, we will cover an essential question for success and happiness:

“How to find out what I’m good at?”

Specifically, we will go over 8 simple ways that you can use straight away to identify your personal strengths.

Because once you find what you’re good at and optimize your life around it, some amazing things will happen:

• Higher productivity and focus
• Experiencing more joy in what you do
• And higher self-esteem and confidence

Grab a pen and paper to get the most value from the short exercises in this article.

And let’s dive in!

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#1: Recognize your guilty money pleasure

Let’s kick it off in a fun way: your guilty money pleasure.

Everyone has one.

You know – that thing you love to spend lots of money on that makes absolutely zero sense to other people.

For some, that’s cookbooks or online marketing courses. Others have rooms filled with clothing. And what about that specific collection you’ve got in your closet that no one else seems to understand?

What you love to spend money on tells a lot about yourself.

Sometimes, that is obvious. 

For example, if you buy cookbooks, that must be because you enjoy cooking. And you’re likely good at it too.

Other times, you need to look at more subtle clues. 

Got a massive shoe collection? That reveals something about your identity and what matters to you in life.

Though you may have to look a bit deeper to find out what you’re good at in life, your guilty money pleasures are a great way to start.

Exercise: list all your guilty money pleasures.

#2: Audit your past achievements

The past holds an incredible amount of self-knowledge if you tap into it. 

So ask yourself: 

What did you excel at in the past?

Perhaps you were good at a specific subject in school. Maybe you were good at making friends and socializing. Or what about hobbies and interests outside of school?

What were you better at than most others?

What you excelled at back in the day gives clues about where your natural strengths lay.

For example, I excelled at chess in primary school and always had to play the teacher because of it. 

Though I’m not a chess prodigy, I did discover that I’m good at analytical skills.

Exercise: list every achievement or thing you were good at in the past.

#3: Identify your joys

What you love to do often correlates with your strengths.

It makes sense that if you’re good at something, you’ll enjoy it much more than those who struggle with it.

So ask yourself: 

What do you enjoy doing most?

And how do you spend most of your free time?

When you go over the things you enjoy, try to understand why you like them and where they overlap with your strengths.

For example, I also enjoy playing poker, which contains several skills: reading people, dealing with loss, and understanding risk versus reward, just to name a few.

Which of these elements did I enjoy the most?

But the ones that I did enjoy most was understanding risk versus reward and calculating the winning odds.

That gave a clue into my strengths.

Exercise: write down what you enjoy doing and dig deeper to understand why you like it.

#4: Notice your energy triggers

A third way to find your strength is to look at what gives you energy.

What is something that you had to do, and maybe didn’t want to do, yet gave you a surprising amount of energy?

Here’s another way to look at it:

What do other people dislike or struggle with that you don’t mind doing at all? 

If you have difficulty answering those questions, think about the times when you had to do something that you didn’t feel like doing at all. Think about any school- or work-related projects.

For example, everyone struggled with math in school, while I had no problems getting these exercises.

What gives you energy often reveals your strengths.

And the opposite is true too. If you do something that devourers your energy, it’s likely because you’re working in a weaker area.

Exercise: write down everything that gives you energy.

#5. Strength and personality tests

So far, you’ve asked yourself questions to find what you’re good at. 

And though looking inwards is the best place to start, it also comes with some self-created biases that limit you from identifying your strengths.

That’s why taking one of the best personality test is a great idea. Not only do those tests provide insights into your strengths and weaknesses, they offer much more information about all your other strong suits, values, and so much more. In addition, you gain clarity on how they apply to your career and relationships.

Of course, there are specific strength tests too, which double click into your strengths. So if you’ve already taken a personality test and are curious to dive deeper into your strengths, then check out the top strength tests. In addition, you can perform the SWOT self-assessment test.

Exercise: take at least one test to collect different insights.

View the best personality tests

#6: Ask people

Just like taking strength tests, asking for feedback from others can provide a different perspective to identify your strengths.

But you may also experience this method as the scariest one from all the options we discuss in this article. 

So why do it?

Because everyone has a different perspective on life, and what seems essential to you may not be as important to other people.

And vice versa.

This method is also beneficial when you feel stuck in your line of questioning. 

So if you struggle to find your strengths, ask other people for input.

Exercise: ask at least three people to list your strengths. Remember that there are no right or wrong answers: it’s just their perspective. Ideally, ask different people, like a family member, friend, teacher, colleague or manager).

#7: Explore patterns 

If you’re still wondering how to find what you’re good at in life, don’t worry.

Try to collect as many insights as possible from the exercises, which will make it easier for you to find common patterns.

How do you do that?

Let’s look back at my strengths.

Chess and math were two apparent indicators of some of my strengths. I also enjoyed playing poker and making sudokus.

When I finally looked at the underlying skills in each of these interests, it didn’t take me a long time to pinpoint some common strengths:

Analyzing data and looking for patterns and logical solutions.

Ironically enough, it took me quite some time to figure this out.

My example may seem obvious to you. At this moment, it’s very obvious to me too. But when you first wonder what you’re good at, it’s not so obvious at all.

Try it for yourself.

The important thing is to stay curious and not judge yourself if you cannot come up with the answers straight away.

Sometimes, your strength hides in plain sight. In other cases, it may take some time before you identify your strengths. 

Exercise: look at all the data you collected and find common themes. Once you do, try to dig a little deeper to understand what elements make you good at all these different things. 

#8: Experiment

You may still struggle to find what you’re good at, even after doing all the exercises – and if you didn’t, make sure to do them.

It may take a little while before you identify them all. 

It took me a long time to find mine too. And even though I got some, I still gain new insights into this very topic all the time.

You see:

There are different levels of self-awareness. It’s like an onion – there are layers stacked on top of each other.

The important thing is to stay curious.

Keep experimenting.

Try new things.

The more action you take, the more clarity you will gain, and the sooner you will have enough references to identify what you’re good at.

Exercise: try something new this week, like taking a course on a specific topic, trying a new sport, or exploring something that interests you.

Closing thoughts

You now know how to find out what your strengths are. And you also know that there’s always another strength to discover.

That’s why self-reflection is a regular practice in my life.

And I recommend you pursue self-discovery too.

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