Career satisfaction - understanding your natural abilities
One of the most popular assessments I use with clients is the Highlands Ability Battery. Clients love it because it is an objective assessment rather than a self report. They get objective data on what they can do well and what will be less easy. The assessment is published by The Highlands Company and is based on the work of Johnson O’Connor.
 Finding out your natural abilities is a fundamental step towards a satisfying and successful career.
Real career success is rarely down to money and status and much more to do with finding a job which ties in with what you can do with ease.
We all have talents and abilities we are born with. These give us a special ability to do things easily and a reason why we can find other things difficult. We develop this ability through heredity and in childhood and our abilities can be measured from age 14.
 Because they are hard wired they do not change. Practice won’t make them stronger and ignoring them won’t mean we lose them. They differ from skills, which we can develop, but which we can also lose, and interests which can change. However, both skills and interests can enhance our abilities.
We are happiest and most satisfied when we make maximum use of our abilities.
An individual may develop the skills to practice law, for example, but if she doesn’t have the inborn talents which make the practice of law easy and satisfying, she will find her work unrewarding (and, even, as in the case of many lawyers, frustrating). When we apply our abilities to our study or work, we do our tasks better.
 Knowing your abilities and natural talents can help you to
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Understand where you are naturally talented
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Know how you solve problems and make decisions most effectively
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Understand in black and white why you would be happy in some fields and not happy in others
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Choose the best option from a group of study/ career/ job/ business choices
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Know how to study most effectively
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Know what other jobs within your organisation you would be better and more fulfilled with
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Use your true strengths more effectively and more consistently
When we study and work in line with our natural abilities it is like driving along a brand new four-lane motorway. Working against your natural talents is like trying to make your way along a narrow, muddy, footpath. You can get there either way, but working with your natural talents is a lot easier and you will find much greater success.
 Sometimes people ask for more detail about this battery and you can read the history at the Highlands Company website. You can also read details on the validity and reliability of the assessment.
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