This is part 10 of the 16 post series.

Self Assessments can be done online with tools like Strengthsfinder.com, DISC Assessments, Myers Briggs, etc. Many career transition sites and job listing sites even have some rudimentary self assessment tools available.

However, there is a far simpler way to do a Self Assessment.

There are two primary steps involved in a Self Assessment:

1. List all of the individual activities that you have done in life & career that you enjoyed and were successful doing. Get granular, not high level. Prioritize these activities by enjoyment & success
   • As you write these activities down on a piece of paper, think honestly about how much you enjoyed them and were successful doing them. Write down the activities that you disliked and were not good at doing as well. Be honest with yourself.
   • Get granular – Don’t write Project Management – instead write activities like scheduling, researching, managing resources, facilitating meetings, meeting schedules, prioritizing, etc, etc, etc (I can say etc again & so can you)
   • Don’t limit your activities in any way – thing wide and deep. Think beyond your job into your entire life. Gardening, volunteering, church, singing, bike riding, etc, etc. The more you show yourself what you do, enjoy and are successful at, the better this exercise will be for you to Self Assess.
2. Ask your professional friends what skills, talents, experiences and expertise you have that they feel are your best.
   • Ask them to be honest with you and to share openly
   • Ask them what kinds of activities they fell you really enjoy and are successful doing.
   • Make this a conversation and not a list making task. The more you can get your professional friends to talk about you, the more you will discover about yourself.
   • Your contacts are more likely to see things about you that you either don’t see or don’t want to see

Doing this self assessment is a critical step in determining your future. Don’t think this is an hourly step or a week long step. It took me six months to determine that I really did not enjoy helping businesses be successful thru technology, but instead, I love to help individuals become better people. I had to dig deep to convince myself that my hunch was correct.