What is your Superpower?

I am really glad the first time I was asked this question was NOT during an interview, because it would have caught me completely off-guard. First and foremost because I am not really a superhero aficionado – you would lose me at Marvel vs DC superheroes. 

But the question triggered my thinking, and when it was later asked in one of my interviews, I was ready to answer it. Just because I had time to reflect about it, of course. And that is why I am sharing the idea with you.

And no, this post is definitely NOT about super-heroes or that type of superpower – although if you are real life superhero with supernatural superpowers, good for you!

The question is really probing us to reflect on our gifts, our innate talents, those characteristics that we excel or are good at without making any effort.

I love the concept of gifts: because as much as each one was born with different gifts, they remain as gifts unless we put them into practice, unless we do the hard work of unpacking, unboxing, and using our gifts for something meaningful.

And our superpowers might not be as obvious, and require that we look at ourselves critically – and with an open mind.

When I recognized what my gifts were, I was able to capitalize on them. And that unleashed results that seemed only possible with superpowers. 

I am an exceptional doer. Do you want something done? I will get it done. I will find ways. I will learn about it. I will practice. I will try and error and refine. I will ask questions. I will slice and dice things in small, achievable steps, that add up to a whole. I will make it happen. I will track down everyone who I depend on to turn it into a reality. I will rally the troops. I will fearlessly share progress, even when there are setbacks – because that is the only way to get help on a timely manner. I will not give up, even when the road gets difficult – and specially when the road gets difficult – that is where the fun lies, to me. And I will even build the blueprint so others can replicate or do it again based on my learnings. 

It is not what many would consider a sexy gift, like being a musical prodigy, or being extremely beautiful, or having an exceptional ability in one sport or another, or being a talented actor – I literally suck at all of those things – or I am at most average in the best of them!  

But I would not trade my superpower for anything else. Why? Because it is the authentic me, it is who I am. When I can use and capitalize on what is truly me, because it comes so naturally, I can direct all my efforts or hard work on the other things needed around that superpower. So it is almost as if I doubled my time, my capacity, because I begin by leveraging on my superpower.

And knowing what our superpower is does not only help us professionally – although it certainly does. But most of our gifts, once understood, can be leveraged and help us in other areas as well. I lost count of all the crazy trips I have been able to make happen because of my uncanny ability to make difficult things happen. Or the way I managed to buy property by going through intricately detailed steps that made it financially viable – even if only barely. 

So going back to you, what is your superpower? 

If the answer is not obvious, don’t you ever assume it is none. I can assure all of us were born with at least one superpower. Some of us might even have been gifted with more than one. 

One way to find out our gift is to observe when we are in flow: meaning what are we doing, or thinking, when we completely lose track of time and space because we are completely absorbed by something. That is a great hint to identify that our gift, our superpower, might be strongly related to that state of flow. It also helps to ask those around us – family, friends, teachers. They might help assess if our hunch on what is our gift is in the right direction – because that is the beauty of gifts: they shine! And those around us might see them more clearer than we can.

And identifying our gift is just the very first step. Turning that into a real superpower is understanding how that gift fits in our dreams, in what we want to do. If we can find the way to leverage our gift, aligned to things we want to achieve in our personal and professional lives, nothing can really stop us. But putting our gifts to use are key, and that is where the real work and challenge lies.

For now, begin with the first discovery: what is – or what are – YOUR superpowers?