How to Find Your Motivational Gifts
We’ve already discussed how you will be more productive, more successful, and more fulfilled in life if you do what you were born to do. If we live outside of our gifts and try to be someone we are not, we put unnecessary stress and strain on our lives. You can learn more about the seven Motivational Gifts in this blog post.
Why Is It So Hard to Figure Out My Gifts?
The world is noisy and distracting. Throw in having a demanding job, owning a business, being a parent, caring for sick loved ones - and it can be almost impossible to find time for reflection. Because of this and other reasons, people often don’t know their natural gifts and talents.
Instead of doing what naturally comes to them, people often do what they were taught to do or what they feel like they should be doing. We have to move from the “should do” to what our natural flow is.
Our understanding of our gifts may be blocked or impaired for several reasons. Primarily because of what we have done and how that has influenced our thinking and decision-making. Or, it could be lack of belief, thoughts like, “that’s not who I am,” “that’s not what I do,” or, “how can that possibly be?” This kind of doubt is from the enemy, Satan.
We could also be blocked because we are attracted to the wrong thing and we’re making them into an idol. An idol is anything that has significant influence on us; anything that we regard or think about above all other things. Idols could be money, your job or career, craving approval from people, and many other things.
We could also be blocked from understanding our gifts because we are idle or lazy. Getting to know yourself (and others) is deep work. It’s hard, sometimes painful, and typically the last thing we want to make time for in our busy lives.
What Are My Gifts and Talents?
There are several ways to start to see what your gifts are.
1. Pay attention to your energy
First, pay attention to your energy levels when doing something. You will feel most productive and energized when you are doing what you are born to do. If you feel empty or de-energized, you are likely trying to be something you aren’t. Ask yourself, “When do I feel most productive?”
2. Identify times when you feel most alive
Next, are there times when you feel most alive? When you feel like you are on top of the world, confident, and content? If so, you may be working in your gifts and strengths and you need to learn more about them.
3. Consider your career and volunteer work
Look at how you spend your time and/or making money. Does your job or volunteer gig motivate you to get out of bed every morning, or does it feel tedious? Does your work day or volunteer shift go by quickly? When you operate in your gifts, time seems to fly.
4. Notice your leadership style
If you are a business owner or you lead a team (or your family) - pay attention to your leadership style. What do you like to do in your role? What part of your job or vocation do you dislike? When are you most productive?
As a leader, you are called to move people and projects forward. As a Christian leader, you are called to do this with concern, encouragement, and Christ-like love. If you are working in your strengths, you bless those around you with who you are. If you are not strong in some things or others that you don’t like to do, you can delegate these responsibilities to other people who have the strengths to do the job and do it well.
When you build a strengths-based team, you enable yourself to be more productive while allowing every other team member to live within their unique gift and purpose. That’s why it is important to not only understand your gift, but the gifts of those around you.
5. Take the Free Gifts Assessment
The Free Gifts Assessment, outlines your top three motivational gifts and shares how you can use them most effectively. You can find out your top three motivational gifts here.
The motivational gifts provide the foundation of who you were created to be. Your top gifts show you how you naturally operate and show you your purpose. You can build your life around your top gifts.
Note that taking the Free Gifts Assessment is just one part of discovering your God Given Gifts. There are many assessment tools out there that can help you understand your natural talents and gifts. In our G3 Coaching Programs, we use the Success DNA to determine your leadership tendencies, CliftonStrengths to assess your top natural strengths, and the BP10 to understand your approach to business.
When we look at your talents and natural abilities at all of these different angles and levels we begin to understand how you were made and what you are uniquely created to be. If you take some assessments you won’t necessarily see a full picture of your abilities; it’s kind of like taking a verse out of the bible and saying, “This is what God is all about.”
Walking In Your Gifts
Once you know your top gifts, you are called to understand and develop them. People will be attracted to you based on your gifts and you will be attracted to other people based on their gifts.
People will want to work with you and be around you because of what you do naturally. And, with your business, you can make money most effectively by doing what you are gifted to do. This gives another dimension to the idea of “just be yourself.” It’s truly permission to step into the calling, the purpose that God gave you.
For your life to be most successful, you must build it on a strong foundation. Unfortunately, we see people trying to make money by idolizing someone else and trying to do what they are doing - this is the equivalent of building a foundation on sand. Eventually, the flood waters will wash it away. If you have a strong foundation of what your gifts, strengths, and talents are, no matter what happens around you, you can rely and build on that foundation. Remember the man who built his house upon sand?
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
- Matthew 7:24-27
If you want to discover your God Given Genius and start building your life and business around your gifts, start by taking the 7MG Assessment or contact us.
