Untitled Book #2 – Part 10

Here’s where I ended last Wednesday’s book excerpt in Untitled Book #2 – Part 9:

“So, one of the parental perspectives I’ll always stand by is that it’s a parent’s responsibility to assist his or her child in developing his or her talents, skills, and abilities and to guide that child into opportunities to use those capabilities in order to arrive at strong and thriving rightful placements along the child-to-adulthood journey.”

Whew! That was a jam-packed sentence, if I’ve ever seen one. However, I’ll add the following shorter sentences after it to bring more closure to this part of the book.

“If I had a responsibility to help my child find the path toward his rightful placement, then I certainly had a responsibility to find my own. And here is where The Rightful Placement Process was born.”

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Okay, now that I finished up last week’s book excerpt, let’s move on. I apologize for jumping around so much, but I’ve decided to end my Untitled Book #2 excerpts for the introduction. At this point, the excerpts are going to get a little choppy and fade in and out to different areas within the book that I’d like to bring to your attention.

Because the book still had pieces that I was developing at the time I decided to stop writing it, going forward, I will only bring in pieces that are some of the more developed sections that you could possibly benefit from as you go through your own rightful placement journey. So, I hope you’ll continue to trek along with me, as I continue with portions of the book that are well worth discussing.

Part 10 actually introduces you to the chapter, “Your Makeup and Making Up the Difference”, which outlines the first couple of steps in The Rightful Placement Process.

Part 10:

In this first part of The Rightful Placement Process, we’re going to take a deep dive into what makes you tick. We’re going to highlight what you’re made up of at this moment in time and what you need to apply in order to have yourself put together in the most complete package possible?

Ask yourself the following questions:

What do you enjoy doing? What are you good at doing ? What do others say that you’re good at? What can you offer to others? How can you benefit others or bring value to others’ lives? How can others benefit from what you do? The answers to these questions can be thought of as strengths, talents, aptitudes, or more formally as KSAs (knowledge, skills, abilities).

Here are a few activities I’d like for you to try out. These action items will assist you in creating your KSA list for this part of identifying your current makeup:

• Look at your performance appraisal/review/evaluation at work. What does your boss/supervisor/manager think you’re good at?
• What do you have listed on your resume as your skills, experience, achievements, etc? The items on your resume should truthfully reflect (in a page or two) what qualities and skills sets you would be able to bring to a prospective employer. What does your resume say are those things that would make you competitively employable?
• What have others told you that you have a natural talent for doing (the “thing” that seems to come easily to you and is appreciated by others)?
• Think about your favorite subjects in school. What skills did you need in order to participate in those subjects? You can also refer to your past grade cards/school reports to see where your highest grades came from in order to assist you with this activity.
• What do you look good at doing and are skilled enough to instruct others in doing as well?
• If you’ve taken a personality test or behavioral test, what did it say about you? What category do you fall in on the personality/behavioral spectrum and what character traits relate toward that placement?
• What kinds of extra-curricular activities are you involved in? Think of this question in terms of organized sports, academics, the arts, hobbies, recreational fun, volunteering, personal and professional organizations and affiliations, side hustles, etc. What are the requirements to take on these activities? In other words, what talents, knowledge, skills, and abilities are needed to do these things?
• What kinds of self-help and other informational books, blogs, YouTube videos, and online articles from various websites have you gained knowledge from and applied that knowledge in real life? In what capacities are you utilizing that knowledge and are you enjoying using it?
• What do you find yourself doing in your free time? What KSAs are required to do those things?
• Look at people you consider to be successful in their areas of expertise. What is it that drew you to them? What qualities and traits do you see in them that you identify in yourself?