What is your expertise?

Today, more than ever, it is easy to get distracted and overwhelmed with the possibilities of what you could learn. What you could do. The sheer volume and availability of information can be as much of a curse as it is a blessing.

This glut of input can lead to confusion around the questions of where we should take our talents. How do we find clarity and focus? Here are three questions to help guide us down the path.

1. What are you really, really good at?

What comes naturally? Or what expertise have you honed? If you don’t feel like you have developed an expertise, maybe there is something you see yourself becoming good at. Write it down. This simple act of committing something to paper can help you start defining your expertise

2. Do you enjoy doing it?

Is this really your passion? Seems like an obvious question. But just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you want to passionately pursue it. If you’re not passion about it, go back to question one. You have to marry what you are good at (or could be good at) with what your are passionate about.

3. How is it unique among all those others who also do this?

Get through question 1 and 2. Then decide what is the unique flavor of the expertise that you are passionate about. This may take some work. But you have to find those things that help separate your expertise from the others out there with a similar focus.

Write it down

It is surprising how clarifying it can be to commit these words to a document. Committing is a good word for it. It’s a small commitment, but the first step to beginning the pursuit of that thing that you are good at and passionate about. Your special brand of expertise.