We all have skills. Lots of them. It turns out there are three kinds: transferable, special knowledges, and self-management.

Special knowledges are things you know how to do: repair a bike, produce a play. Self-management skills are the skills you use on yourself: We often call them "traits."

And you also have a set of skills that can be used in a variety of settings. These "transferable skills" give you the ability to perform tasks under a range of circumstances. Synthesizing ideas, mentoring others, precision-working with your hands… These are all transferable into a number of different situations.

Because we all have a unique combination of skills, we're also able to use them in unique ways. The challenge isn't usually that we don't have enough skills: it's determining which of the skills that we have are the ones we love using.

Think of it this way. Draw a box with four sections, two on top and two on the bottom. The left side axis is the spectrum of how good you are at your set of skills, from the skills you're not yet particularly good at (at the bottom) to the skills you're great at (at the top). And the bottom axis - going left to right - is the spectrum of skills you don't particular enjoy using (far left) to the skills that are your absolute favorites (to the right).

So, here's how it works:

• The bottom left quadrant contains the skills you don't love using, and you don't think you're particularly good at. Don't take a job requiring you to use many of these skills, because you'll likely be miserable.
• The top left quadrant contains the skills you're good at - but you don't enjoy using them. You might have a couple of these on your job description and still be satisfied in your work, but too many of them and again you'll be miserable.
• The bottom right quadrant: Here are the skills you love, but you haven't developed them as much as you could. This is a set of skills you'll want to practice more.
• Top right quadrant: Ah, here's the set of skills you're good at, and you love using. Chances are good there's a lot of skills here: We tend to love the things at which we excel, and vice versa.

So what's the key insight? You need to make sure you know the skills you love, and the skills you're good at, so you can determine the kind of work that will use as many of these skills as possible. Try using eParachute, so you can make that connection to some of the work options that might be a good match for you.

Heart image by Scorp1