Thursday, June 27, 2013

A Hidden Star

Recently, I spoke with the amazing and inspiring TeeJay Dowe of Back on Track Teens and Talent Dynamics. In a (very brief) nutshell, TeeJay's passion is working with youth to help them move from a place of low confidence and self esteem, to a place where they feel confident and capable. I know TeeJay could describe it much more in depth, so if you have any questions, definitely check out her website and reach out to her. I can almost ensure that her energy and enthusiasm for what she does will inspire and motivate you. For the record, TeeJay did not in any way ask me to write this or promote her work - I actually reached out to her and asked if it would be ok for me to write a blog talking about my insights after taking the profile questionnaire (more on this in a minute) and speaking with her about her about my results.

The profile questionnaire, to give a very brief overview, asks a wide variety of multiple choice questions to determine which one of the eight possible profiles that best fits you. Mine came out, quite surprisingly, as "Star". I say surprising because if you've ever heard me talk about being up in front of people, especially for something like giving a presentation, you know that I have to picture everyone in their underwear to do so. Ok not really. Well, maybe. I trained in voice and won't do karaoke because I don't like to be in front of people. So the fact that my selected profile mentioned how those with my personality are good at holding the stage, working out of a crisis, are best in a leadership role, and are happy to be the center of attention, first seemed to me to be inaccurate. However, the profile did include that Stars have high energy, are visionaries/big picture thinkers, are creative, able to inspire others, and optimistic and those certainly hit home. So I gave it some thought, and had a follow up chat with TeeJay via skype.

The more I thought about it, and as I talked to TeeJay, I realized that this could in fact be the correct profile. As I pondered and dissected the profile and my current life situation and transitions, I noticed that the view I've always held of myself might not have been all that accurate. The reason that I've never felt I could be in top leadership, or center stage (yes, even during karaoke) was primarily lack of confidence. Evidenced by the fact that when I had needed to step into these situations at times, I actually had shined quite well - pun somewhat intended. Furthermore, as I reflected that over the past few years, I realized that when a few leadership opportunities had come up, I jumped up and down saying "I can do this!" even when others didn't necessarily believe that I could. And I got frustrated when others didn't see that potential. In the past year, I begun projects that, if they take off and become more "substantial" than projects I just enjoy working on, would probably put me center stage. Not because I'm looking to be, but because they're things I've envisioned and taken the lead on, and I'm therefore associated with their potential success whether I want to be in the spotlight or not.

I feel like through the profile, and through my followup discussions regarding it, I've unlocked some hidden potential. Or perhaps I've realized that it was there all along and I just wasn't giving credit where credit was due - i.e. to myself and my abilities. I'm excited to think further on what I can do and where I can go with this new knowledge that I have. And, as always, I'll be documenting that journey along the way.


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