Multi-talented people need a mission to make sense of their multiple talents – this is how you find yours
Part 2 of my Mission Clarity series: Now we connect your past experiences with the causes you care about.
Do you feel like you’re constantly trying to choose which of your multiple talents you should lead with?
Struggle no more, I think I’ve got something that can help you.
If you read the first part of this Mission Clarity Series, you’ll know that having a personal mission is a tool that can help you structure your multiple passions AND add meaning to your work.
So, if you’re someone who wants to contribute to something bigger than just your personal account balance, becoming clear about your mission might be the key to unlocking a more satisfying career. And, it helps you finally explain what you do for work without sounding like you just opened a catalogue of random job titles.
In the first part of this series, we discovered what you stand for.
In this part, we’ll explore how your multiple talents are connected to the change you want to see in this world and how you can turn this into a compelling professional presence.
Let’s dive in.
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Mission Clarity Part 2: What you care about + your history = a mission that makes you irreplaceable
If you haven’t yet completed the exercise from last week, go ahead and do it now because you’ll need those answers to do this. You should have a shortlist of causes or missions you care about or maybe, you’ve already narrowed them down to a single one. Now, let’s connect them to you as a person. This exercise will add your unique perspective to the cause, making you the only person who can help solve it in this specific way.
What personal experiences do you have that can be connected to the causes you care about?
Don’t try to sound like a professional but keep it on a personal level
Why do you really care? What’s the emotional connection or story?
If this feels raw, let it be raw. Try to connect to your lived experiences that actually meant something for you, even if they were painful.
What are some highlights from your career so far, projects or positions that made you experience a heartfelt joy?
Not what paid best or looked smartest on paper
What project made you think “THIS is what I should be doing more of”?
If you examine these experiences side by side, what’s the common thread? Who did you get to be when doing these projects?
How could your entire skillset be used to advance this (or these, if you’re still trying to decide) mission(s)?
Try to see how all of your skills and talents could come together within the scope of this mission
List any ideas you might have, the obvious ones and the exciting ones
If you’re still trying to decide between missions: which one would allow you to use multiple skills instead of just one?
This doesn’t have to be a business idea, product or service. It’s enough for now to just see how your skills and talents could be deployed for this cause.
Next: Wrap it in a sentence
Last week, you completed the sentence: “I want to live in a world where __________.”
Now, continue that sentence with. “This cause matters to me because _________. I’m could contribute to this cause by doing________, ______, ________.”
Examples:
… I grew up in a community where people like me were not given a voice. I could contribute to this cause by connecting people, organising inclusive events and making social media posts.
… I lost all my money and had a sudden epiphany of how little you really need to survive. I could contribute to this cause by helping people budget their little money, showing them the DIY hacks I’ve come up with and speaking about how a minimalist lifestyle can lead to greater happiness.
… I lived in an area where wildfires were a constant threat to lives and livelihoods. I could contribute to this cause by developing alarm systems that can detect risks for wildfires and consulting with agricultural machinery companies about the features their equipment could have to prevent sparks.
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Keen to go deeper with this work?
These questions are a great starting point for your mission discovery, but I know that sometimes we need to be seen through someone else’s eyes to find the right words to describe our unique perspective.
I work with multi-talented people to clarify their mission and build the presence to spread it—from your website messaging to your speaker profile to your outreach strategy.
If you’re looking for the mission that ties all your different skills together AND contributes to a bigger change in the world, we should talk. Send me a message and we’ll schedule a discovery call to talk more.