Core Qualities

How to discover your core qualities? 4 tips!

Tip 1: Recognize the compliments you receive.
Often your qualities are so self-evident to you that you are not aware of them. You show your qualities effortlessly because that’s “who you are”. For example, I have regularly heard comments along the lines of: “you really get things done!”. My reaction is always: “That’s what I’m paid for, isn’t it?”. I feel some kind of astonishment. It is so normal that I don’t notice it myself.

Tip 2: Ask others!
People have different perspectives on you and yet you will find that many people recognize the same qualities in you. Ask your loved ones, your colleagues and perhaps people who only have a first impression of you. The trick then is to recognize which qualities come easily to you and which qualities you may have internalized (learned) over time. The learned qualities usually take energy to express.
Bonus: Asking about and exchanging qualities usually yields great conversations.

Tip 3: What behavior or colleague regularly annoys you?
Chances are the opposite behavior is your core quality! For you, your quality is probably so obvious that you are annoyed by people who are very different in it or if you yourself exhibit this kind of behavior.

Tip 4: Translate negative feedback.
When you receive negative feedback, you can ask yourself, “What quality is underneath?” If you receive the same (negative) feedback often, you may be showing a little too much of your quality….

Tip on the tips: don’t lock yourself in on who you think you are….

Recognizing your core qualities is a first step in consciously expressing who you are and matching this with your environment.

In my trainings, I often work with (core) qualities using Daniel Ofman’s Core Quadrants model. You could say that the power of his model lies in its emptiness, you give it your own interpretation and meaning. 

#corequalities #core quadrants #training #ofman