If someone came up to you and asked what your top three skills were, what would you say? Would they come easily or would it be hard to think of them? Are you utilizing these skills, or have you tucked them away out of sight? Could you prove you have these skills, or could you only claim you had them?
When approaching anything, it’s important to know what our best skills are so that we can better direct our attention to these things. Why, if we are skilled in one thing, are we devoting all our time to something else? There is a balance of when to learn new things, and when to utilize gifts you already have. The following is a list of what I believe my top three skills are, and how I have tried to utilize them in the past.
Instead of listing examples of my three skills separately, I have decided to combine them and give examples of how they all have worked together in my life. I figure if these truly are my top three skills, they should always be evident in my life! So, after a brief description of the skills, I will give a couple of examples!
Leadership:
Some people just have more of a knack towards leadership. It is something that can be learned (and often is) but I’ve found that some are just more naturally gifted in it. These are the people who everyone seems to just naturally follow and you’re not even sure why. While I have friends that are even more gifted in this area, I constantly find myself in positions where I am teaching others – and I absolutely love it.
Quick learning/Adaptability:
With learning, I have once again found that there are people gifted in different areas of this. Some people pick things up rather slowly, but once they have it, they have it. They learn it better than almost anyone. It may take them years, but the dedication they have to it truly pays off. Others pick things up faster than you can blink. I’m talking about the people who you introduce to a new sport and by the end of the day, they seem like the best person on the field, or you give them a new instrument and they somehow can already play something on it. Often, though, these people struggle with truly perfecting their talents. The point is that everyone learns a little differently. While I am much closer to the second camp, I have seen the value in both and have tried to get better both at quick learning and long-term gain.
Positive Outlook:
I am a strong believer that what you put into something is what you will get out of it, and I think this translates into attitude. If you go into something dreading it and only doing it because it’s an obligation, chances are, you won’t have a good time and you won’t gain much from it. If you go into it with your eyes open to opportunity and excited to put your all in, you will most likely gain something new and will drastically improve not only your attitude but everyone else’s attitude as well.
Two examples:
Here are a couple of examples from my life that I feel I have showcased these skills.
- Directing a drama for a children’s program
I was responsible to create a 2-hour drama from scratch and present it for a weekend homeschool convention involving over 300 kids. This meant creating and working with a brainstorming team to come up with theme ideas, delegating writers for the script, organizing makeup and costume artists, finding sound technicians and musicians, recruiting sets and props designers, auditioning actors and actresses, finding a rehearsal location, etc. After doing these things, I then worked with these different parties to create and put on this two-day performance.
This challenged me in many ways. There was the obvious challenge of being in leadership over more than thirty people, but more than this were the multiple problems that came up along the way. When Involving this many people in a project, there are constantly unexpected things that come up that must be dealt with. Maybe your rehearsal location falls through last-minute, maybe your lead make-up artist gets sick the day of the performance. There are so many things that required me to be able to quickly adapt and learn how to overcome the obstacle. On top of this was just the added weight of this being my first time in the position. At the time, I was only 18. I was directing people older and younger than myself.
However, the most important thing to me during all these situations was not getting stressed out and realizing that God had it all in control. Even when we were one week out, and it seemed like there was no way we could get everything ready, I had peace in knowing that if I continued to trust Him and work as hard as I could in what was set before me, he would work it out. This didn’t mean becoming lazy. Conversely, it meant working even harder towards a greater purpose! This mindset is what always allows me to have that positive outlook on life. Having my security in Him and not in every little thing that went wrong allowed me to bring joy to my cast and crew and helped everyone to develop lasting friendships through the program.
- Attending a year-long missions training program
A quick description of this program: Located in the far western mountains of North Carolina, the closest Wal-Mart 2 hours away. Candidates live in cabins with no electricity and learn practical skills in remote overseas missions.
I was a city boy my entire life. I liked going out of the city, but only to visit. When I began having an interest in overseas missions, I decided I would do whatever it took to train myself for this. I had never lived outside my parents’ house, and I now found myself in the middle of the woods in North Carolina. Talk about a culture shock! The program included practical hands-on training in construction, mechanics, gardening, animal husbandry, community development, water systems, and countless other things. This tested me in ways that are hard to even explain. Not only was I learning many new skills in a short amount of time, I was learning to survive without most of the conveniences I was used to.
However, I learned how to thrive there. Just like through my setbacks directing the drama, I was able to have security every day knowing that each day God put in front of me only what I could handle. It may have been the limit, but I could handle it. I started game nights and invited everyone on the mountain so that through the trials we were able to keep life light-hearted. I took on being the worship leader at the closest church to the campus and was able to preach several times when the pastor was out of town. My whole life was turned upside down, but I simply turned with it and kept on running towards my goals.
Everyone has gifts, and everyone has skills. Will you choose to use yours and develop them, or will you sit back and let the world decide what you can or can’t do?