What Are Your Greatest Strengths?

(And Why You Might Be Overlooking Them).

Have you ever been asked in an interview, “What are your greatest strengths?” and found yourself stuck? You’re not alone.

Identifying your strengths should be easy, right? But for many professionals, it’s surprisingly difficult—because your most powerful abilities might be hiding in plain sight.

In this post, we’ll explore why uncovering your true strengths is trickier than you think and introduce practical strategies to help you recognize, own, and articulate what makes you uniquely valuable.

Click image to watch this post as a video-podcast.

Scroll to bottom for self-coaching worksheet.

The Strengths Blindspot

Here’s the problem: Your biggest talents often come so naturally that you don’t even recognize them as “talents.”

Think about it—if something feels easy to you, you might assume it’s easy for everyone. It’s like asking a fish to describe water. When a skill is part of how you operate every day, it can become invisible to you.

This blindspot becomes a real liability in job interviews, promotions, or career transitions. If you can’t clearly explain your strengths, how can others appreciate or reward them?

And here’s a critical insight:

A true strength isn’t just something you’re good at—it’s something that energizes you.

When you’re using your strengths, time flies. You feel engaged, focused, and motivated, even when facing challenges.

4 Ways to Uncover Your Hidden Strengths

So how do you find strengths you might be missing? Here are four reliable techniques to help you dig deeper:

1. Notice What People Ask You For

Do colleagues regularly come to you with a certain kind of problem or question? That’s a clue. If others trust your judgment or lean on your help in specific areas, it likely reflects a natural strength.

2. Track Your Flow States

What activities make you lose track of time? These are the tasks that fully engage your attention—and they often align with your strengths. Pay attention to what excites you, even when it’s hard work.

3. Reframe Your Past Wins

Look back at your achievements and ask:

• What problem was I solving?

• What would have happened if I hadn’t addressed it?

Shifting from tasks to outcomes reveals the true impact of your work—and the strengths behind it.

4. Spot the Gaps

Think about what feels easy for you but hard for others. These differences often reveal strengths you’ve taken for granted.

The Power of Reframing: A Real Example

Take the case of a quality assurance professional I once worked with. At first, he described his strength simply as “doing my job well.”

But when we reframed his role by asking, “What would happen if you didn’t do your job?” the answer was eye-opening.

He realized that by spotting small errors in equipment testing, he was preventing serious product flaws, protecting the company’s reputation, and potentially saving millions in recalls.

What he thought was “just part of the job” was actually a high-impact superpower: proactive problem prevention.

That one shift—from describing tasks to describing outcomes—transformed how he saw and communicated his value.

How to Talk About Your Strengths: Use the PARIS Method

Once you've uncovered your strengths, you need to communicate them clearly—especially in interviews or performance reviews.

One effective way to do this is with the PARIS method:

• Problem

• Action

• Result

• Insight

• Skill

Here’s how it sounds in practice:

“I have a talent for identifying potential issues before they impact production. For example, I once noticed subtle inconsistencies in our testing data that others had missed. My investigation revealed a calibration issue that could have invalidated months of research and delayed a critical product launch.”

See the difference? Instead of saying, “I’m detail-oriented,” this version shows your strength in action, backed by results.

Your Strengths Are Hiding in Plain Sight

Chances are, your greatest strengths are already showing up in your daily work—you just haven’t named them yet.

This week, I challenge you to take a closer look at your contributions and ask yourself:

• What problems am I solving?

• What would happen if I didn’t do what I do?

• What comes easily to me that others struggle with?

You might be surprised by what you discover—and how much more confident you feel in your next interview or career conversation.

For a deeper exploration with stories and examples, check out this book: “Future-Proof: Build a Career That’s You.”  It covers many other tools to help you design a sustainable, fulfilling career.

Want Help Uncovering Your Strengths?

Here's a Template Just for You.

Click here for direct access. ✅ Google doc: click File, then Make a Copy

✅ Microsoft Word: click File, then Download, then choose Microsoft Word (.docx)

✅ PDF: click File, then Download, then choose PDF Document (.pdf)

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