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6 Questions to Ask Yourself to Find Your Brilliance

Dec 3, 2024

image of quill shift founder in right corner orange background abstract colorful images find your brilliance text on image says you are brilliant. share it.

A selective sampling of past newsletters with advice for right now.

Originally shared December 2021. Updated December 2024.

Very recently we welcomed a new member to our extended family. The little one came out perfect to parents and grandparents filled with joy and love.

What came as a slight surprise to some after the announcement of the birth was that the parents decided to raise their child gender-neutral until the child would like to make that decision for themselves.

Now, the problem is not with this decision, but the slight confusion that comes with it on how to use pronouns for the baby moving forward. Generations before Z aren’t as familiar with the concept of non-binary terminology and it takes some getting used to.

This brought forth a great conversation with my dad, during which I explained to him that even though I’m more comfortable with the terms than him, it’s not because I inherently “get it” better.

It’s that I’ve been much more exposed to this for a longer period due to my profession, my friends, the cities I’ve lived in, the groups I’m a part of, and so on.

Through this exposure comes experience and through experience acquired knowledge and degrees of comfort.

I have to remind myself of this when it comes to consulting as well.

A client pointed out to me a few months ago that she had just found this great new app.

“Fabulous! I love that one. Use it all the time,” I replied.

She almost yelled, “Ayanna! Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner.”

To me, I come from a place of, “Of course, people know about this.” I’m not going to bother them because it’ll be redundant.

But, just like explaining pronouns to my dad, not everyone knows something that — because of your circumstances, interests, etc. — you know.

What you know can be pure genius to someone else.

I hope, as the end of the year comes closer, you don’t hesitate. You are brilliant. Share your brilliance with others.

And if you’re thinking, I don’t know what that brilliance is, let’s figure it out together.

I’m pretty good at getting to the heart of things, breaking big ideas down into clear focused parts, and championing the brilliance I get to interact with, especially when people don’t see that brilliance for themselves.

But don’t take my word for it. My past clients and collaborators have their own gorgeous way of putting things.

In the meantime, here are a few questions to consider to find your brilliance and share it:

  1. What do others compliment you on?
  2. What activities and actions can you be considered an expert in vs. what activities and actions do you love learning more about?
  3. What are you doing or thinking about when you enter a flow state?
  4. What topics are you interested in that you don’t see many others pursuing?
  5. What experiences have you had that are different or set you apart from those around you?
  6. What are two to three values you hold deeply and how do they show up in how you move through the world?

The answers to these questions will lead you closer to thoughts that set you apart, understandings that others don’t have but you do because of who you are, and skills that others value highly that you may be overlooking.

We all deserve to be seen, heard, and understood, but the first step is doing that for ourselves so we can share it more with the world.

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