Your Niche—How Your Strengths Fit into Your Life
What are your strengths? One would think that people know what they’re good at, but as you figure this out, you may hit many bumps and curves along the way. You may also go through periods where you feel you haven’t discerned your strengths and may never figure it out. Somehow, college kids are expected to know what they want to do with their lives as they choose their major at 19! Most of us will try a few things until we find one we like and are good at. But we may continue to have lingering doubts about our choices. Is this my calling—what I want to devote my life to? We may feel like our life is “fine,” but we must keep looking. We have to find our niche.
Expertise, Aptitude, and Application
Being good at something likely involves becoming an expert in a topic, having an aptitude for the topic, or having the ability to apply the skills or principles related to this topic. Exploring these three elements, expertise, aptitude, and application, will help you find your niche.
Your niche is your position in life. It might include aspects of your personal or professional life or a combination. Your niche is directly related to your identity, but not all of it. For example, you may place a lot of importance on your job, and the impact you have through it, but a big part of your identity might also be your family. Your niche is where you feel you belong and are doing something important and meaningful.
- Expertise. Being an expert in something means having a broad and deep understanding of a topic and the knowledge, skills, and abilities brought about through education and experience in that topic. An expert is recognized and called upon to engage on the topic and advise and educate others.
- Aptitude. Having an aptitude for a topic means that it comes naturally to you. You have insights into the topic and can learn about it and understand it deeply and meaningfully. You can integrate it directly and without hesitation in multiple contexts.
- Application. Having the ability to apply the skills or principles related to a topic means you must be able to use your expertise in a topic in a real-world setting. You must have the ability to bring your knowledge, skills, and abilities to bear toward a problem, issue, or context.
My niche story
Like, I suspect, many others, my path toward finding my niche was not straight and smooth. I majored in economics in college because it gave me insights into people’s behaviors. I had an aptitude for understanding this material and felt I knew how to apply it meaningfully. When I went to graduate school, the emphasis was on modeling these behaviors mathematically. I was already working in the field and had to get my graduate degree to excel in my job. I struggled mightily in school but finally made it through. My job at that time also emphasized behavior modeling, and I began questioning whether this was the right career for me. I kept at it for a long while and reached a certain comfort level, but I never felt I had an aptitude for the work. Over the years, my job evolved, and I gradually worked more on applying economic information to real-world problems. I understood the information through my years of experience, but I was no longer developing the information myself. My role had evolved from one that didn’t emphasize my strengths to one that did. I could use my expertise in a role that I had an aptitude for, in applying information in a meaningful way. I had found my niche.
Not all situations have the flexibility to evolve as my job did, but it may be possible to evolve through changes or tweaks in your situation, adopting a different perspective, or changing your situation entirely. No one is ever stuck with only one path and one way to walk it. Being open-minded about what you might do with your life is essential.
How soon do you bail if you’re not good at something?
But how much chance do you give a job, relationship, or creative endeavor? You don’t want to quit without giving it a chance, but you also don’t want to mindlessly follow a path you know is not right. Where is the critical point to make a change?
The first thing to keep in mind is that change is a process, not a light switch. As you become familiar with your situation, you will gain insights into what parts of it you like and what parts of it you don’t; what parts of it you’re good at and what parts you don’t get; what parts you might be able to change, and what parts are set in stone. As you explore whether a situation might be part of your niche, the answer will become more apparent over time. A change in your path will likely appear suddenly but will be based on a period of reflection and discernment.
If you decide to make a change, that time will have been worthwhile, as you will have learned about yourself—your strengths, passions, and identity—and you can bring those insights to bear on the next chapter of your life.
Rounding out your niche
Although the above was written in the context of professional life, your niche will likely involve a combination of the elements in your life. You can be a driven professional and still prioritize your family. You can be a devoted parent but still find meaning in your job. You can be a passionate worker but place a significant portion of your identity in your recreational pursuits. There are no limitations on how you create your niche.
As you characterize your niche, thinking broadly about your life is essential. You should assess your work as described above, but you should also be intentional about what other elements of your life are part of your niche. It can be easy to engage in whatever comes along, fight fires as they arise, and spread yourself too thin, but if you have a good idea of your niche, you can say “no” when an opportunity doesn’t fit your niche. See here for more on prioritizing your life.
Your life is what you make it, and knowing your niche can help make it extraordinary by tying what you do to your strengths and passions.
~~~
Artwork by Grandfailure
