FIGURING OUT YOUR SUPERPOWERS - Part 1
What do you enjoy…
…and why it’s good to figure out!
When you’re a teenager, it can be easy to be directed by others - what they think you should do, when, and how.
But these are actually YOUR decisions to make and one of the most important things to figure out is what you ENJOY doing…
It’s Part 1 of figuring out your Superpowers!
Plus, who doesn’t like thinking about stuff that makes them happy?
You might be wondering why this is important.
Well, I’m assuming you don’t want to spend any more time than you have too, doing stuff you don't enjoy?
There will always be some of this in your life, but you probably want to keep it to a minimum, and do more of the good stuff.
If you think about what you enjoy, it can give you a steer on what to focus your time, energy and enthusiasm on, both now and in the future.
After all, life’s too short to do stuff you don’t enjoy. Why do anything else?
So, where to start?
You probably know some of the things that you enjoy doing, but you might find it tricky to think about them in this way.
Once you are clearer about what it is you enjoy, you can start to factor them into your plan. This might be what subjects to study at school, what you want to do to earn money, or how you like to relax.
To get started, try doing the following…
Think about what really makes you feel good, brings a smile to your face, or you just get excited when you think about doing it…
Got some? Great, try writing them down so that you can refer back to them:
Stuff I Enjoy
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Once you have done that, write down next to each one WHY you enjoy doing it.
This may feel a bit weird but give it some thought and see how you get on:
Why I Enjoy It
1.
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3.
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6.
Cool, you’ve just done a pretty amazing (and important) thing.
If you found it hard, don’t worry, that’s not unusual. We don’t often think about this stuff in this way!
It also doesn’t matter how many things you have on your list either…
Not a full list? No sweat, just come back to it and add stuff later
Too many on your list? Relax, you may simply enjoy doing lots of things
There will come a time when your list starts to change, new things may come on it, other things may drop off.
And this is completely normal too. It’s also pretty positive since your tastes will change and firm up as you get older.
Remember, there's never a wrong answer - these things and why you enjoy them are YOURS to own, so you’ll always be right!
Okay, so you’re almost there…
Take a look at the reasons why you enjoy doing the things you do. Can you see any patterns?
Not sure what I mean?
See if you can identify any similarities between the things on your lists:
do you enjoy individual, team or group activities?
which ones do you do most often?
are they active things or more thinking things?
are they indoors or outdoors?
You get the idea…
So, one last thing to do and you're done…
Look at your list and pick the top 4 things that you never want to stop doing, because you enjoy them the most.
Once you have done that, write them down in rank order, putting your absolute favourite thing that you enjoy and never want to stop doing, at Number 1:
My Favourite Things
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2.
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Great stuff!
Now, when you have decisions to make about what to do, at school or in your free time, try to think about the things you really enjoy doing, and factor them into your choices.
By figuring this out, hopefully you will move from this:
Before
To this:
After
Success!
But hang on…
It’s not just about doing stuff you enjoy, life isn’t that easy!
You also need to be GOOD at stuff if you want to do more of it in the future, and perhaps even get paid for it.
So, go to Part 2 of Figuring Out Your Superpowers:
And for a more detailed guide, check out FIO’s Discovering Me E-Book: Understanding Who You Are & Making Your Plan.