March 12, 2025
Think You Have No Strengths? Start With These 7 Questions
Many people say "I don't really have any special strengths". In reality, they simply haven't audited their skills or learned the language to describe them. This article walks you through seven concrete questions to surface strengths you already use every day, so you can feed them into your ikigai work.
Why you feel "average" even when you're not
Some abilities are so natural to you that you don't register them as skills: breaking down complex problems, hosting conversations without awkward silence, making chaotic spreadsheets readable, or calming people down in moments of stress. To others, these are rare and valuable. The feeling of being "just average" often comes from a lack of structured reflection and external mirrors, not from an actual absence of strengths.
Seven questions to surface hidden strengths
Set aside some quiet time and answer these seven prompts: 1) Over the past year, what do people most often come to you for help with? 2) Which tasks do you consistently complete faster or more reliably than your peers? 3) When do you secretly think "I did that pretty well"? 4) If you had to teach one thing, what would you choose? 5) When have you performed surprisingly well with little preparation? 6) Which words show up repeatedly when others compliment you? 7) What would you happily do for free—but could realistically charge for? Aim for three bullet points per question without overthinking.
Turn the raw list into usable strength labels
Once you've dumped your answers, cluster them into a handful of strength labels such as structured communication, emotional attunement, design sense, analytical thinking, or execution and follow‑through. Then map these onto the ikigai quadrants: where are these strengths currently used, and where else could they be valuable? When you later fill your ikigai canvas, you can drop these labels straight into the "what you're good at" quadrant instead of staring at a blank box.