Exploit your uniqueness

I’m currently reading It’s Called Work for a Reason by Larry Winget.  In this book, Larry says that the secret to success is to “find your uniqueness and figure out how to exploit it in the service of others.”  Do this, he says, and you will be successful.  Do this, I say, and you will love your career.

But how does one actually find their uniqueness?  Well, would you believe that there are actually scientific ways to go about this?  Personality/Behavior profiles like the DiSC or Myers-Briggs assessments can be a great place to start.  Similar assessments have been shown to be able to accurately predict safe and unsafe commercial drivers and are recommended by the Department of Transportation prior to employment of over-the-road truckers.  Bottom line; they can predict performance.  And performance generally correlates well with contentment.   

I recently completed the DiSC behavior assessment and was absolutely blown away by how spot-on it was.  It clearly explained past decisions and helped shed light on past mistakes.  More importantly, it gave me a very important filter through which I can scrutinize future opportunities.

These assessments are available at most college career offices and are also easy to find online, generally for less than fifty dollars.  A small price to pay for a step in the right direction.