Leverage Your Unique Superpower (USP)

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!

-- Adventures of Superman

We all have a unique superpower we can put to work every day: at work, in business, or in our personal lives.

Not the ability to see through walls or fly, or the strength of one hundred men. Something subtler, but something that can give you a real edge when recognized and used deliberately.

This could be knowing a second language, being deeply empathetic, having a photographic memory, driving colleagues into action, or any other skill that puts you a level above your peers.

The thing is, it may not seem like much. But if you look back and pinpoint this strength, you may realize it has been a unique superpower you've successfully used before, on numerous occasions, and you simply never recognized it as extraordinary. You just accepted it as a given, or an accident.

You may still not view it as extraordinary. You may not believe it helped you beyond one or two occasions. But if it is a superpower at work or in business, then you can leverage it to both provide additional value and better focus that edge for improved personal and professional growth.

If you can lead your colleagues into action, your USP may be leadership or management, and that could be a direction worth pursuing.

If you come up with fresh ideas for projects, campaigns, or stories, you may be able to contribute creative direction and belong in that arena.

If you have the gift of gab, you may be able to write amazing copy, unleash powerful sales abilities, or enhance communication across your team.

I have no idea what your USP is. And you likely don't either. But you should look for it. Review the experiences where others were amazed, appreciative, perhaps even pointed out your smooth set of skills, and see whether those moments repeated themselves.

Locate that unique superpower, see how it fits in different areas, and figure out how to sharpen it and raise your standards.

Up, up, and away.