Why Everyone Needs a Snapshot
At The Forte Factor, we start all of our coaching relationships by helping our clients get to know themselves better. We guide them through activities and tools to better understand what they are good at, what they love and what they value, as well as helping them identify their triggers, blind spots and biases. Knowing themselves at a deeper level enables and empowers them to get clearer about what they want and need, and, ultimately, how to make wiser decisions everywhere in their lives.
After all, you can’t work toward achieving big goals or even identifying real dreams until you know who you are and where you’re starting from.
We use the same approach for ourselves. As coaches, we make time every day to continually expand our understanding of who we are. This encourages us to show up and be the best versions of ourselves in not only our daily lives but as your Coach.
One of our tools is a free online assessment called 3About Me. We provide this because we believe that everyone should know at least three of their talents and strengths, which can help you start to identify the places in work and life that fit you best.
So, as I was thinking about moving into a new year, I decided to revisit my 3AboutMe Talent Assessment results. Here’s the word cloud of my results from the 3AboutMe assessment I took in June 2019 (my 3 core talents are Caring, Decisive and Results-Focused; the other words are words that further explain my core 3):

I remember looking at this a year and a half ago and thinking “pretty accurate.” My family and closest friends would say the same.
I know our world can influence changes in us, but regardless of COVID-19 and how our world has basically been flipped upside down, my 3 core words still are accurate today.
Here’s why: I remain true to who I am. I know when to turn up my strengths and when to turn them down because I know what my greatest strengths are. I know when I need to lean in to my liabilities (the other side of my strengths and the things that don’t come easily) and push myself out of my comfort zone because I know when a situation needs those attributes for the greatest or most successful outcome. I know I feel happiest, successful and accomplished when I’m doing something that is directly aligned to my natural talents because I know what my talents are and how to use them in today’s world.
You’ll find the people who are happiest with who they are the ones who know who they are and build their work and lives around what they do and like best. They are intentional about finding their fit.
I was reading a great article about the evolution of the celebration to mark the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s landing and came across this quote: “History isn’t a tree, it’s a meadow. It’s a million individual threads twining and unraveling in the wind. When you’re in the midst of it, it’s chaos. It’s only from a great distance that you can discern the shape of it…”

How perfectly this sums us up as human beings. We forget to take the time to step back, to process what’s happening, to reflect on our response and emotions and get caught up in the every day mess. But when we know who we are and can step back and fully appreciate our world, we can then connect what is best in us to that world – we can see where and how our talents can best be used. We gain greater insight into how we can show up to our world as who we really are.
Take Action
Take time to get to know the real you, the you that sometimes get pushed aside to handle the priority item(s) for the day. Especially right now, coming off a very challenging 2020. We’ve adopted mentalities and behaviors that aren’t necessarily true to who we are, but became a way of being. Recognize where those are not the true you.
A way to start is to take our free 3AboutMe Talent Assessment. It is a great place to start to develop the language around your talents and strengths, and then start to ask yourself, “where are the places in work and life that let me fully employ my unique abilities?”
Imagine what you could accomplish when you know you are aligned to your natural talents and strengths and know how to manage each of them in a way that lets you be who you really are.
Consider reading Tune Out to Tune In