Your Experiences Are Trying To Tell You Something

We spend a surprising amount of time searching for information about ourselves. 

We take assessments. Ask people what they think we're good at. Read books. Compare ourselves to others. Look for advice from teachers, mentors, friends, and people we trust. Those things can be valuable. Sometimes someone else gives us language for something we've felt but couldn't quite explain.

There is another source of information we tend to overlook: Your own history.

Think about all the environments you've already experienced. Classes. Jobs. Sports. Clubs. Volunteer opportunities. Group projects. Family responsibilities. Creative projects. Communities you've been part of. Each one contains evidence about how you operate.

Think about the moments when you've consistently performed well. What were you doing?

Maybe you're regularly the person who organizes the group when nobody knows what to do next. You may have evidence of an ability to create structure from uncertainty. Maybe people consistently come to you when they need something explained. That could point toward communication, teaching, or an ability to make complicated ideas easier to understand. Maybe you repeatedly volunteer for unfamiliar projects. That pattern could tell you something about your curiosity, willingness to experiment, or comfort with learning as you go.

One experience doesn't necessarily tell you much. Repetition does.

Instead of saying, "I think I'm a good communicator," ask yourself: "What experiences give me evidence that I'm a good communicator?" Now you have something you can examine.

You can do the same thing with the environments where you've struggled. Maybe you consistently lose energy when you're isolated for long periods. Maybe highly structured environments make you feel restricted. Maybe you perform exceptionally well when there's a deadline but struggle when expectations are vague.

They're information. The goal is to build a working understanding of yourself based on evidence rather than assumption.

Think of these questions:

• Which opportunities should you pursue?
• What environments might help you thrive?
• What responsibilities do you want more of?
• What skills are worth developing?

Your history won't answer those questions for you. It can give you a much stronger starting point. Before searching for another answer somewhere else, look backward for a moment.

Study the times you felt useful, the problems people trusted you to solve, what gave you energy, and where you struggled.

Your best information about where you might go next may already be hiding in where you've been.