A Road for Self-Discovery
How empowering it is to be able to articulate your strengths, to be able to see them in action and recognize for yourself what you bring to the table! It took me 50 years to realize that the way my brain works is different from most – I thought everyone was able to see process steps, able to articulate and visualize how something can be done. But we are each unique, no two brains are the same and it is really eye-opening to be able to slow down and notice what makes you different and special. Often it is difficult to see these things for yourself, thus enters the all-valuable personal assessment. I mean more than a personality profile – something truly insightful, logical and informative; that helps you see things differently and moves you to action.
I have searched a long time to find something like this and it wasn’t until this summer when trying to help my son find a college major that I learned of YouScience. The assessment itself took a few hours and in a day or so he had an entire report detailing his personal approach, core drivers and the ability to see them play out in different scenarios (school, work, play). The website took it a step further and linked his aptitudes and interests to careers. WOW! So much information! To help him the most we agreed I would take off my ‘mom hat’ and put on my ‘coach hat.’ I had him explore questions about what he saw – What did the report tell him? What surprised him? What was confirmed? What was he left curious about? What did he want to do about it?
We had a valuable, objective conversation about what might be possible given his observed aptitudes and personal interests. The link to careers allowed him to click through to explore what any particular job might look like, what kind of education/degree he needed, how much salary he could expect AND where he could find those kinds of jobs. The learning was huge. The insights linking from one to the next provided him a grounding he had not experienced. It was more than the individual findings, although those were helpful. It was the patterns we started to see, the themes and options leading to connections, confirming ideas buried deep inside him which led him to a career category that was comfortable and intriguing.
HUGE! As a coach it was rewarding to see my ‘client’ gain momentum from the possibilities. As a mom, it was calming to know he had a path to travel.
Each of us must make our way in this world, but it is helpful to find something/someone objective from which to learn. YouScience provided that avenue. While its design is tailored to college bound students I have found it valuable with adults as well. Anyone, at any stage who is grappling with how to change direction can find this useful. Give it a try – doesn’t cost all that much. When you have your report, give me a call and let’s talk about what you discovered.
