Knowing your strong points and learning how to operate from a position of strength rather than trying to fix your weaknesses is the best way to develop. Here’s my SMART matrix to help you identify your strengths.

Substance: What ‘substantial’ strengths do you have? Which of these strengths are you aware of, and which haven’t you considered strengths because they come naturally to you? Write up your identified strengths and put them into themes, for example, people skills, financial skills and use this profile to guide future actions, choices and to push up your confidence during tough times.

Motivations: Know what motivates you to manage the peaks and troughs of your career. Know what drives you. For example, how do you pick yourself up when you fall?

Assets: Professional assets are can be membership of a high profile network, connections with influential people, references of highly respected people and strategic mentors that give you advice. Other assets are valuable because they allow you to take some calculated risks knowing that should you fail, they will cushion you – such as a good education, expertise and other qualifications.

Resonance: Resonance is the extent to which your work benefits others. For example, what barriers in your job are you breaking through to increase your output. What tasks critical to your resonance do you need to pay more attention to? What additional roles could you play that to multiply increase impact?

Talents: What are your ‘stand out’ personal characteristics? Where do you consistently outperform others? What transferable skills do you have that makes it easy for you to participate in more than one strategic area of your organisation? What separates you from your peers? How are you expanding your talents?

Now take action: Put together your unique profile using the SMART matrix.