Knowing what to do with ones life can be hard.

When I graduated from business school, I thought I had life figured out. I followed the crowd and took my first ‘real’ job as a consultant.

I hated it. And for the first time in my life, I questioned absolutely everything about my life. Until then, I thought I had life figured out. That if I just graduated, life would unfold accordingly.

Well, as we aell know, that’s not how life works. After 7 months, I quit that job out of pure pain and necessity.

Luckily I stumbled upon a book that would rock my world.

I first did the Gallup’s StrengthsFinder 2.0 test with a group of equally career-confused friends. And I was struck by the results.

Since then I’ve used it with many clients. As one client once said: “I didn’t know these were my strenghts, I just thought it was who I was”.

Well, exactly. We all have strengths. The key is to figure out what they are and focus accordingly.

My main strengths are maximizer, arranger, futuristic, individualistic and learner.

Reading through the descriptions of each strength, I felt more and more convinced that the ‘success’ of my career would be in direct proportion to the time I spent honing and working with these strengths.

I created a google doc with them, wrote the recommended activities, pitfalls and thoughts of ways I could home them. And in my desperation, I made a very deliberate choice to always prioritize honing what I was naturally good at.

My strengths melded into a mix of coaching, managing people, researching the future, writing and teaching.

Here are my five main strengths:

Maximizer: “Excellence, not average, is your measure. Taking something from below average to slightly above average takes a great deal of effort and in your opinion is not very rewarding. Transforming something strong into something superb takes just as much effort but is much more thrilling.”

Arranger: “You are a conductor. When faced with a complex situation involving many factors, you enjoy managing all of the variables, aligning and realigning them until you are sure you have arranged them in the most productive configuration possible.”

Futuristic: “People exceptionally talented in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They energize others with their visions of the future.“

Individualistic: “People exceptionally talented in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how different people can work together productively.“

Learner: “People exceptionally talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. The process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.“