By: EDGE Women Speaker Lynn O’Dowd
The holiday season is associated with gift-giving. Many of us spend time thinking about and shopping for the perfect gift to give a loved one, friend, colleague or customer. But have you thought about the gifts you have already been given? The “gifts” I'm referring to are the God-given gifts or natural talents that you received when you were born.
Are you able to recognize the gifts you received when you were born? It can be challenging to identify our own gifts because we don’t often think about ourselves in that way. As a speaker, during my keynote I point out that “many of us have lived our entire lives with some of our gifts hidden, or really underutilized. Until we recognize and utilize all our gifts, it can be difficult to step outside our comfort zone for greater success and happiness in business and life”
As we enter this gift giving season, I invite you to make a list of all your gifts, skills, talents, abilities, expertise and strengths. List anything you have a knack for or enjoy—big or small, important or silly, practical or impractical. The list will most likely be much longer than you expect.
Most of us review the previous year to see what we want to change in the New Year. Creating a list of your gifts helps you recognize what you can be doing or want to be doing going forward. Review it and decide what gifts you would like to enhance in 2020. Think about your goals for the New Year and ask yourself: what gifts do you need to tap into to get started on your goals? What gifts do you have that are perhaps underutilized or that you haven’t been paying much attention to? Your answers to these questions can help you craft your goals and make them a reality.
When thinking about what you want to accomplish in the New Year, don’t forget to include how YOU want to spend YOUR time. Determine what you want to enjoy more, and what you would like to cultivate in your life. Your job as a meeting professional can be all consuming, so it’s important to take time to write down, track and schedule all your tasks, activities, commitments, wants and wishes in order to be sure all of YOU is taken care of. The internal dialog in your head of “What am I forgetting?” “I never get to…” creates stress.
Once we realize all of our abilities, it helps us be grateful, and a way to show our gratitude is to share them with those who need them. Your gifts of organizing events, budgeting, baking, thinking outside the box, singing, compassionate listening, building or even being disciplined can help others in so many different ways. Sometimes, we take for granted what comes easy to us or we don't attach a lot of value to what we are gifted with because we compare ourselves to others. The best thing to do is share your gifts, and that isn’t limited to a “gift-giving season.” You can give your unique gifts all year long to positively impact and help the lives of others. A bonus of sharing your gifts with others is that you give them permission to do the same and shine their light.
This holiday season give yourself the gift of recognizing and appreciating all the wondrous, unique parts of you. Remember, you don't have to be perfect; you just need to be present. Presence is the perfect present to yourself! Make your list of your unique combination of gifts and GoGaGa™ in 2020 to Unleash Your Inner Superstar!
Happy Holidays and A Happy & Healthy New Year!