My Top Three Skills

What are my top three skills?  When pondering this question, I had to go deep and find out what makes me tick.  What comes naturally to me?  What has been a part of me since I was young?  At first, I was going to go with what I had put in the tagline of my website: creative, ambitious, determined.  While I still consider those valuable, the last two lean towards personality traits rather than actual skills.  Instead, I chose creativity, adaptability, and leadership ability.  Let’s dive further in, shall we?

Creative

Throughout my whole life, in every aspect of my life, I’ve been a wildly imaginative person.  When I was young, I created kingdoms to rule with my siblings and friends in the backyard.  I directed home films and plays featuring family as the cast, wrote numerous stories, and tested my hand in the kitchen.  As I got older and took on more responsibility in my life, I applied this skill to problem-solving when faced with challenges.  While babysitting, I often have to come up with solutions to problems involving issues like safety, sibling quarrels, and activities.

The four books I’ve published are probably the most obvious example of this creativity.  Not only did I have to be creative enough to actually write these books, I had to find alternatives to traditional publishing and somehow learn how to market them.   There are few aspects of my life that don’t involve some kind of creativity.

Adaptable

This is perhaps my most overlooked skill simply because it’s second nature to me.  I have moved over a dozen times in my life, and I’m only eighteen.  I have lived in three different states and each house had a unique situation or challenge.   It is rare that I am thrown off by a change in my life, and I could even argue that a lack of change makes me uncomfortable.  I take on new roles readily and welcome challenges.

The most recent example of this adaptability came this past summer.  I moved out of my parents’ house for three months and started working forty hours a week.  I’d never lived apart from my family and never worked full time or overtime before.  I had to buy my own groceries, find a way to do my laundry (it would have cost me about $12 to do my laundry every week; I chose to walk a total of about 3.5 miles round trip in order to do it for free), and learn to co-exist with housemates who were not my family members.  This experience probably should have thrown me off, but I settled in very quickly and loved every second.

Leader

What else could you expect from the oldest of four?  I’ll admit, when I was younger I leaned more towards bossiness than actual leadership, but thankfully that developed into an actual skill.  

I worked as a babysitter for my Yacht Club for about four years.  I took the role of manager, determining who would work each week, assigning duties, splitting tips, and communicating with parents, sitters, and our boss.  It was a job I very much enjoyed, and it gave me an opportunity to develop this skill in a managing position.

I’m a tennis instructor, which challenges me to lead in a different way. I do not have authority over any other coaches, but I have to set an example for the kids I teach.  This job forces me to balance encouragement with criticism, to lead by example, to explain things in a simple way that young children can understand, and to solve the many conflicts that arise.  

I fully intend to continue using and developing these skills, as well as attain entirely new ones.  Every experience is a learning opportunity and I don’t want to let any pass me by.