What if I told you that you already have a secret sauce? Something that makes you stand out, but you're the last person to see it. Most of us have blind spots when it comes to our strengths. And no, I'm not talking about weaknesses. I mean the superpowers you don't even realize you have. The things you do so naturally that you assume everyone can do them.

So today I'm going to show you exactly how to uncover those hidden strengths by using a simple yet underrated tool, the YoHari window. And because asking for feedback can be awkward, I'm going to give you a foolproof way to get honest insights from friends and coworkers without it getting weird.

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I want to start by breaking down the Yohari window and the four different quadrants that go into this tool. The first one is the open area. This is what you and others know about you. These are some of the strengths you are very well aware of and others are aware of too. The second quadrant is the hidden area.

This is what you know about yourself. but others don't necessarily know. These are some of the strengths that you may be holding back, some of the skills, some of the qualities that don't quite make it yet into your professional life. The third quadrant is your blind spot. This is what others see in you, the strengths that others are aware of, But you are currently not aware of them.

And then there is a fourth quadrant, and this is the unknown area. These are unexplored strengths and its potential that is currently still sleeping. So others don't know about this strength. You don't know about this strength. There's very little that you can do about this at this point, but they may unfold.

In your career now, most people focus on the open area on strengths they know about and others know about, but the true magic lies in that blind spot in the things others know about you, but you're not really aware of them or you currently don't consider them as strength. And this is what we want to tap into today.

So now we want to double click. Into your blind spot area and uncover some of the strengths and skills that others know about you. But you don't really know about yourself. You've not really seen them as strengths or something that stands out about you. That's what we want to change now. And how are you going to find out about these things is very simple.

It's, you're going to need to ask some people about. What they think your strengths are now, we're going to do this in a way that is not awkward, not weird, and something that you might actually end up enjoying. I want to share with you three different ways and tools to do that. And the first thing I'm going to say here is that.

You should really pick some people that are close to you. These could be friends or co workers, four or five different people that you feel a close connection to, that you feel are going to give you some genuine answers. And you don't have to make it super formal. It could be a simple question of, Hey. Do you have some time to spend with me?

Can we have a conversation? I'm looking into, you know, some of the things that I do really well and to uncover some of my strengths. I want to learn a little bit about how you feel about what I do well and what I could potentially tap more into, strengthen, do a little bit better, work on, and it will really help me to have a conversation.

It could be over coffee. It could be over wine, whatever works for you. So the first. The first tool, the first little exercise is to ask four to five different people in your close environment to share with you five words that come to mind when they think of you. Now, this is very simple to begin with, but once you have a number of words on the table, you can easily spot patterns, common themes, connect the dots and see if there is anything that stands out about you that you weren't really aware of yet.

This could be something like one of them saying calm, another one saying quiet or quiet power, something like that, that would allude to the fact that they feel really strongly about your calm presence, about your quiet demeanor at work, and they feel that there is a strength in that, that you may not have.

I'm covered yet. This is what the first exercise really gives you. It's very low key. It's very simple, but there is so much power in those words that you're going to get back. The second exercise I want you to try is a very simple question that again, you can ask friends and coworkers in a one to one setting.

And this question is, when do you see me at my best? Now, this is not a hard question, but what this question does is it really allows them to think about some of the situations, some of the scenarios they were in with you, where they felt like you were thriving, you were in your element, you were in your zone, and they saw you at your best.

They saw something in you that you may not be aware of yet. This question sparks. Great conversations. It's simple, it's easy, and I think you're going to have some really genuine moments with your friends and coworkers pondering this question and get some really cool insights out of some of the situations that they perceive you in.

That you may not even recollect the third exercise I want you to do creates a little bit of a win win situation. And this is something that you can easily do in the workplace with a couple of coworkers that you really relate with that you feel you have a strong connection to. And this is a strength swap exercise.

So what it is is you basically swap strength and you tell each other what you think you do really. Well, this could be something where you open up with a question, like,

what's something you think I do well that I don't give myself credit for? Again, a very open question that sparks the right conversation and that really pulls out some of the strength. Some of the insights that your coworkers or really close friends may have spotted about you in the workplace, in a meeting, in a presentation that you gave, in an interaction they had with you, but you just don't know about yourself or you don't give yourself credit for.

This is to really look into some of the areas that are underestimated, undervalued and overlooked by you or by most of the people in your environment, your really close friends and coworkers. We'll know them, we'll have spotted them before, but maybe they have never told you that. So make room for that.

Create a safe space with those people around you. And in, you know, best case scenario, you all walk away having a strength or having some of that blind spot uncovered and something that you can really use moving forward.

Now, once you have uncovered your blind spot and some of those hidden strengths, how do you bring them to life? I want to give you three tangible ways to start using them today. Now the first one is a very simple one. And a shift you may already see once you have had some of those conversations with your close friends and coworkers.

And that is the power of just being aware about your secret sauce, about what stands out about you. And it gives you this quiet confidence of feeling grounded, of feeling powerful, of feeling like there is something that you do really, really well. That others have noticed about you, quiet confidence gives you so much power and allows you to show up so much differently in the workplace to your next meeting, to your next work interaction.

So I want you to honor that. I want you to become mindful of how knowing your secret sauce, how knowing some of those hidden strengths already makes so much of a difference. Now, you obviously can also bring that to life in career conversations, in vocal and written communication. This is all about the way you show up in the workplace, how you're being perceived, the reputation that you build.

It is personal branding to a certain extent. And you can think about that in. Written communication, such as your LinkedIn headline, your resume, your CV, some of the things you communicate in written communication. You can think about how do I weave in my secret sauce? How do I make sure that my hidden strength stands out in my LinkedIn headline?

But it could also come into play when you have career conversations, when you have job interviews, when you meet senior stakeholders for coffee. Knowing your Hidden strength and your secret sauce. Some of the things that you do really, really well allows you to then ask for the right. Opportunities and for the right things and projects to be exposed to, to further strengthen this and to go into that direction in your career.

So these are just some of the ways you can apply this knowledge and you can really embrace. That knowledge. There is so much magic when it comes to your hidden strength and your secret source. And you will surely see how you can start to weave it in to everything that you do from a career perspective and how you show up in the workplace.

Now it's over to you. And I really dare you to give this one a try because I know you have heard about this exercise before. I know you've heard before, ask your friend for what they think your strength is, but have you ever given it a try? Because I can promise you, if you do end up having these conversations with friends and coworkers, you're going to walk away with something that you didn't know about yourself.

And what if this thing Is a total game changer in your career for your progression, for your career trajectory, you're gonna want to find out. And if you do, please drop some of these insights, some of these golden nuggets in the comments. So I can help you craft your LinkedIn headline or give you some tips and ideas for how to bring these to life in your career, in your next job interview, in your next career conversation.

I really want to make this work for you. Now, thank you so much for tuning in today. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you walk away feeling like you're going to have a good cup of coffee, a glass of wine with somebody you want to talk about hidden strength. And I'd say, I'll see you next time.