“You can’t be anything you want to be, but you can be a whole lot more of who you are” --Curt Liesveld, Seminar Leader & Consultant

FIVE MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SKILLS  Adapted from Rick Warren
SKILL = a Developed Talent or Ability

1.    MYTH: People are not born with abilities. All abilities must be learned by experience. There are a number of abilities that are inborn or developed very early in life. When people say, “He just seems to have a natural talent for it,” it’s probably true!

2.    MYTH: Learned abilities are primarily in the classroom. Actually, some of your most basic abilities were learned at home, or somewhere else outside the classroom.

3.    MYTH: You are aware of all of your abilities. You are probably using a number of talents that you are not even aware of! You need some process of skill-identification.

4.    MYTH: Abilities that I use at work are only usable in that environment.  I could not use them in ministry. Hopefully, you will see the fallacy of this idea. Be creative!

5.    MYTH: Most people only have a very few abilities.  The truth is that many national studies have proven that the average person possesses from 500 - 700 skills.

The Lord has given them special skills as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple, & scarlet thread on fine linen cloth, and weavers. They excel as craftsmen and as designers. Exodus 35:35 (NLT)

And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and ability, in understanding and intelligence, and in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship. Exodus 31:3 (Amplified)

You are probably using more abilities & skills than you are aware of! Here is a process of identification!

STEP 1: Set aside time to consider those things you naturally do well.

Use the following categories to help you recognize and clarify what God has gifted you to do. Write "Love It", "Like It" or "Could Live Without It" next to each natural skill.

Love It!

• You cannot imagine life without these activities/abilities/skills.
• Given a choice, you might do these things full-time.
• They can be—but don’t have to be—part of your job.
• If you are dissatisfied, discovering your natural abilities could alter your work!

Like It!

• You enjoy these abilities, but don’t need to practice them in order to feel satisfied.
• “Take it or leave it” is your attitude toward

Could Live Without It!

• Your first response is avoidance when faced with the prospect of engaging in
• When carrying out these responsibilities on a regular basis you feel drained.
• Although you may adequately be able to perform these tasks, you have little or no desire to do them.

 NATURAL SKILLS

1. Adapting: the ability to adjust, change, alter, modify, going with the “flow”
2. Analyzing: the ability to examine, investigate, study and evaluate information
3. Communicating: ability to share, convey viewpoints (oral, written, graphic)
4. Cooking: ability to prepare, serve, feed, or cater food
5. Competing: ability to contend, win, battle
6. Counseling: ability to listen, guide, advise, support, or care for
7. Designing: ability to draw, create, visualize, beautify, enhance, adorn
8. Developing: ability to cultivate, nurture, equip, expand, increase or grow
9. Directing: ability to aim, plan, oversee, manage, administer, supervise
10. Encouraging: ability to cheer, inspire, support, motivate
11. Engineering: ability to design, plan, construct & maintain built environment
12. Facilitating: ability to help, aid, assist, execute, make happen
13. Judging: ability to be even-handed, fair, sound judgement, responsible
14. Leading: ability to bring about something new, influence towards a vision, shape change
15. Negotiating: ability to discuss, consult, settle
16. Organizing: ability to simplify, arrange, fix, classify, coordinate
17. Performing: ability to sing, speak, play an instrument, act out
18. Promoting: ability to sell, sponsor, endorse, showcase
19. Reconciling: ability to steer parties towards harmony, peace maker
20. Recruiting: ability to draft, enlist, hire, engage
21. Strategizing: ability to forecast, calculate, create alternatives to improve
22. Structuring: ability to create routines, structures, detail oriented
23. Teaching: ability to instruct, train, equip, guide, advise, prepare
24. Welcoming: ability to connect, greet, link, make comfortable, be hospitable, involve

 *adapted from S.H.A.P.E. by Rick Rees

 Circle your strongest five Natural Skills from those in the “Love It” column

ACQUIRED SKILLS

Circle your strongest five Acquired Skills

 The abilities you do have are a strong indication of what God wants you to do with your life.

They are clues to knowing God’s will for you… God doesn’t waste abilities; He matches our calling and our capabilities. –Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, p 244.

Action Steps

What steps should be followed to link your Skills with an area of service?

1. Take time to discover and identify your skills and strengths.

A good indication of His will for you, as it relates to service, is to examine the Skills and Strengths that God has given you.

2. Dedicate them.

Give them back to God for His use. You can use the Skills and Strengths that God gave you selfishly or unselfishly. That is why you need to dedicate them to the Lord.

3. Develop them.

Take training.  Improve your skills.  Practice your Strengths!  If you are good at carpentry, then seek to be as effective as you can possibly be. If you have the strength to listen well to others, ask God to position you with the people who desperately need this strength in you.

4. Deploy them.

Use them for the glory of God. Seek His guidance and call for your life, and then follow it with all your heart.

You cannot do anything you want to do, but you can do everything God wants you to do!

I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. - Philippians 4:13 (NLT)

The difference between an ordinary day and an extraordinary day is not so much what you do, but for whom you do it.  –Author Unknown

Input your information to the “Skills” section of your DESIGN PROFILE

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