Do what you love

If I had to pick just one piece of advice from decades of work it would be to discover your strengths and invest in them - relentlessly, with joy, commitment and, dare I say, abandon.

When we tap into our talents, we produce our best work and find more satisfaction in what we do. Marketing is fun, and as marketers, we can enjoy what we do while contributing to our organizations.

You are one in one hundred trillion

Each of us is a unique combination of traits and talents. As the researcher Marcus Buckingham (big fan of his work!) shares, our brains have more synaptic connections than there are stars in five thousand Milky Ways. That's one hundred trillion unique connections in each of us, producing unique combinations of passions and skills.

When you use your strengths, magic happens

Research shows that when you are doing an activity you enjoy, your brain chemistry resembles being in love. Sounds outlandish that you find something in your workday that gives you that level of satisfaction? I don't think so.

Only you can define your strengths

While others may comment on what you're good at, only you know what gives you energy and satisfaction. Those are your strengths. Even if you're not excellent at them (yet). Look for those activities, practice them as much as you can, strength-share with others when you can.

You can do what you love

1

Your combination of strengths is unique

2

Each of us is the best judge of our strengths

3

We are at our best when we get to use our strengths daily

4

We excel by investing in our strengths, not our weaknesses

What's your secret sauce?

A bottle of RedHot spicy sauce with a headline next to it that reads "I put that on everything" Image of sauce splatter sits after the word "that" so the sign could be read as if a word is covered by the splatter, ie "I put that <splatter> on everything."

Tell others what strengths team has to offer

Strength share across teams

What if you haven't yet discovered your strengths?

Embrace the science

Marcus Buckingham is the most passionate voice in this space. I highly recommend his books but especially Love + Work. It will inspire you to seek out and honour your uniqueness. If you're not a reader, listen to Marcus explain what strengths are, why they're important and how you can embrace yours.

We see a leg and arm of a well muscled person with their hands on a bar with a heavy weight on it. They're getting ready to lift it.

Keep track of your likes

A great exercise to identify your strengths is to observe and record what activities you "love" or "loathe" for a week or two, then study them for trends. Download a tracker to do that. Or use this insightful questionnaire from Love + Work book to reflect on what activities you enjoy.

We see a woman lean towards an open laptop screen. She's smiling and gesturing with her hands.

Assess your strengths

Need extra help figuring out your strengths? You can start with an online, research-based questionnaire. Take the strength assessment.

If you're ready to map out how to invest in your strengths, take a look at some planning tools.

Quotes on this topic

An image of Steve Jobs' face and a quote that reads "The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."

A quote that reads "You will excel only by maximizing your strengths, never by fixing your weaknesses" by Marcus Buckingham

A quote that reads "Many of us feel stressed and get overwhelmed not because we're taking on too much, but because we're taking on too little of what really strengthens us." by Marcus Buckingham