Self-Care
2 Personal Gifts and Self-Care
Learning Outcomes
- Identify personal talents and gifts through reflection activities and describe them to employers and colleagues.
- Discuss and define what self-care is and how you can proactively prioritize and support your wellness throughout your professional journey.
In order to be successful at work, it’s important to understand your own strengths, your personal talents and gifts, in staying grounded and healthy. In traditional Indigenous cultures, an individual is more than just than just their “self”. Everyone is part of a family, a family is part of a community, and communities create a nation.
It’s important to be able to identify and reflect on your own personal gifts and talents so that you take this knowledge into your workplace and successfully lead within your workplace community.
Personal Talents and Gifts
Identifying and using your personal talents and gifts is a lifelong process and will enable you to succeed in your career. For example, people who make others laugh contribute to creating an enjoyable workplace. For others it may be the ability to focus on the task at hand to ensure that all projects are completed in a timely manner.
Action Plan Activity 3 – Talents and gifts
Using the Action Planning Tool in Appendix A, take a moment to reflect on your top 3 personal talents or gifts. Write them down in the column under My Talent or Gift. If you’re unsure of what your talents and gifts are, consider asking your friends, family, or coworkers to describe what you do particularly well.
Identify how your talent or gift can contribute to your work. Write down these contributions in the column under Contribution to the Workplace.
Now that you have identified a few of your personal talents and gifts, let’s explore how you can benefit from bringing these to the workplace. The first step is learning how to speak to an employer about the strengths you bring to the workplace. The activity below will get you started with this.
Exercise
Sentence completion + examples of how to articulate these gifts and values to an employer via the CL, resume, interview, networking, LinkedIn
- I can (do) ………………… better than most people.
- I feel most proud at work/school when I am …………………………..
- My manager praises me when I …………………..
- I thrive when ………………..
- I gain strength from………………………..
Feel free to use these sentences to speak to an employer about your strengths. You can also use these powerful statements on your resume or cover letter to demonstrate how you contribute to the workforce. While you may have difficulty being bold about your accomplishments, please know that employers want to know your strengths.
You may also use these as affirmations to build your self confidence. To do so, select a few phrases and repeat them to yourself on a regular basis (such as once a day or once a week).
Self-Care/Wellness
Across Canada, Indigenous communities have their own unique teachings, protocols, and traditions. Indigenous people are also known to value balance for the self in the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual ways of living. Recognizing and adopting healthy behaviours in the four areas is key to your wellness. Taking care of yourself during your personal and professional journey is vital for your overall success and well-being.
Listen to the following traditional wellness teachings from Elders Alf Dumont and Mary Roberts.
Key Takeaways
- Identifying your personal talents and gifts and recognizing how you contribute to the workplace is an important step in recognizing the unique value you bring to your work environment. This may motivate you to continue to take steps that will allow you to thrive in your career.
- Taking care of yourself is vital for your overall success and well-being.