If think it is safe to say that summer is over. This week I was working from home in Luxembourg and it was simply dark, wet and unpleasant weather outside.

The temperature in the apartment was also not brilliant and I have been considering to start op the heating system. I haven’t though, out of principle.
I could not justify it to myself to already induce heating costs. We already had a late summer, now start with an early autumn?

The cold weather did bring out a good thing though. It made me become more creative in finding alternative heat sources.

Did you know that candles really produce warmth? Ever noticed how warm and cuddly cats on your lap are? How layering your clothes and wearing long socks helps to keep the chill out?

All this I already knew from living in an old country house, without a heating system in the middle of nowhere in France. But you seem to “forget” them when you are back in the comfortable houses with central heating.

A long introduction to the topic of this blog-post: Know what you know, that can help you.

During some of my workshops I help people to get in touch with their talents and strengths.

When not in stress how would you react normally? What are the personal resources your normally would have access to? These resources I often refer to as your “red help button”. The “button” you push when needed.

These resources are your talents, your strengths. Examples: creativity, optimism, sharing your thoughts, putting things in perspective, taking a step back etc. etc.

If you get in trouble or in a stressful situation, we seem to “forget” how to get to the solution.

Stress situations are like a fog. Your vision becomes kind of clouded. The bigger and brighter the “red help button” is, the easier it will be to keep seeing it through the fog.

By being aware of these talents you have, the bigger your “red help button” becomes and the more easy it gets to “push” the “red help button” when you really need it.

It is that simple? Yes, but there is a strong condition to make the “button” stand out in the fog and be helpful:

You have to really understand what you do and how you do it to use your talents. If you say: “I just keep my positive attitude”. What is it exactly that you do? How does that work? Is there a place where this works the best? Do you need someone with you, or are you alone? Do you need music or perfect silence? Do you need to move or do you rather curl up on the sofa?

By understanding the details of how your personal resource works, it becomes easier to set the stage and make it help you.

One way to get this self-help process started:

1.       Make a list of the 10 qualities you think you have. Examples of qualities: responsible, positive, creative, independent, honest and energetic.

2.       Then chose out of these qualities the ones that are most helpful to you in stressful situations.

3.       On the top 3 of this most helpful list, make a detailed description how you go about using this quality in normal situations and write this down for yourself and/or share it with someone.

Just by becoming aware of these strengths and how you operate them, you have enlarged the “red help button” to a size that will stand out and be “push-able” when you need it.

If you have trouble finding 10 of your qualities, do not hesitate to ask some family, friends or colleagues to write some down for you. , do not hesitate to ask some family, friends or colleagues to write some down for you. You may even be surprised on the feedback you get. Some of your best qualities are very visible to the world, while you do not seem to see them yourself.

How do you get in touch with your personal strengths and talents? How do you make sure they stay in reach when you need them? Share your knowledge via the comments and let us know your thoughts.

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Esther Celosse

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