Acknowledge Your Strengths and Succeed

In practically any endeavor in life, blazing the trail that's right for you can be tricky – and comparing yourself to others often leads to self-criticism. The truth is that accepting yourself as you are is crucial to building a career and - a life - that brings you happiness and fulfillment.

Get to know yourself. Accepting yourself is virtually impossible if you don't understand yourself first. Many of us feel external pressure to pursue particular kinds of careers or to follow particular paths to success. But that kind of thinking can be detrimental. We're all wonderfully unique! And embracing your uniqueness will help you determine the best road for you. So take the take the time to get to know yourself - what you enjoy, what stresses you out and under what conditions you work best.

Keep advice in context. Mentors and role models are great. But it's important to remember that the advice mentors and role models give you is filtered through their own experiences, personalities and interpretations of the world. What works wonderfully for them might not work so well for you. And that's perfectly okay. Don't criticize yourself if a particular piece of advice doesn't resonate with you.

Own your strengths. Some strengths are easy to express in a few words on a resume. Other strengths are less tangible but just as important, like creativity or the ability to work well with diverse groups of people. Don't downplay those strengths. Just because you can't earn a Master's Degree in creativity doesn't mean it's not a valuable skill. At the same time, be aware of - but don't judge - the areas in which you feel challenged. This will give you a more complete picture of where you're likely to excel. If you value your strengths, you'll be able to make better use of them, which will ultimately help you to succeed at creating a more satisfying life.