The Best Years of My Life (So Far)

Finding your Giftings, even well into your career, can be difficult, leaving many of us feeling rather aimless and dissatisfied in our work. It would therefore be lovely if there were a Giftings Fairy who could come along and sprinkle a little bit of Perception Dust on you, and you would then know instantly what you should do with the rest of your life to be happy, prosperous, and respected.

Unfortunately, there is no Giftings Fairy. Nor are there any other snappy and sure-fire ways to quickly identify your Giftings. However, there are tools to help you narrow the scope, and techniques to enable you to zero in ever more closely. One of them is the Happiness Index.

Happiness can have many sources, but generally speaking the very happy people you meet in life are those who are in a place of contentment, able to take joy from the simple things in their lives. Simple, at least, for them.

I have met bakers and lawyers and carpenters and receptionists and foresters who will tell you that their days fly by in seconds because they just love what they’re doing. They are obviously in their Giftings zone.

Most of us have had such times in our lives, times when our work gave us such high satisfaction that it became one of the most, if not the single most, source of identity and joy.

If you were to zero in on one such period of time and ask yourself what it was that produced such satisfaction, you will begin to shine a light on your own Giftings. The more such times you can identify and analyze, the more certain aptitudes and traits will come into focus.

Some folks thrive in competition, others cherish community. Some seek out conundrums to solve, others prefer simple order. Some value solitude, others abhor it. Some delight in numbers, others are terrified by them. You get the idea.

For myself, interestingly, I can identify several periods in my previous two careers where I felt most alive. While some of those years were as a lawyer and some were as a teacher, I realized that in those happy times I was employing the same personal traits and skill sets. The only thing that differed was specific professional tools.

To think about your Happiness Index, ask yourself these questions: What have been your best years, so far? Why?

And then, just to add to the richness of the tapestry, ask someone near and dear the same question about yourself. The answers may or may not coincide, either way, the contrast is useful.