The Science of Aptitudes: Unlocking Your Potential | Betsy Wills | TEDxNashvilleWomen

Summary

This engaging script explores the importance of understanding one's aptitudes in order to make fulfilling career choices. The speaker challenges traditional career advice, emphasizing the limitations of personality tests and interest surveys. By focusing on innate abilities or aptitudes, the speaker encourages individuals to identify their natural strengths, leading to greater satisfaction and success in their careers. Personal anecdotes, such as the speaker’s daughter’s career path and the story of a graphic designer’s shift to quilting, highlight the value of self-awareness in career decisions. Ultimately, the message is clear: discover your aptitudes and align them with your career to live a more fulfilling life.

Takeaways

• 😀 A researcher at Harvard predicts that someone already born will live to 150, which challenges our societal views on lifespan.
• 😀 Most people have a mental preset about their lifespan based on family history, but this concept is increasingly uncertain with the possibility of much longer lives.
• 😀 Many individuals have multiple careers in their lifetime, with 30% changing jobs every year, reflecting a trend of evolving career paths.
• 😀 Career dissatisfaction is widespread, and it often stems from three key issues: misinformed influences from others, inadequate professional guidance, and a lack of understanding of our aptitudes.
• 😀 Our career decisions are heavily influenced by external factors like family, friends, society, and the media, often leading to misaligned job choices.
• 😀 Personal aptitudes—innate abilities—are more important than external influences in finding the right career, but most people don't recognize or understand their own aptitudes.
• 😀 Traditional career advice tools, like interest surveys and personality tests, often fail to effectively guide career decisions because they rely on subjective, self-reported answers.
• 😀 Aptitudes are our brain’s hardwiring and remain relatively stable by age 20; they are the foundation for skills, and understanding them is key to career fulfillment.
• 😀 No single job can fully align with all of a person’s aptitudes, which is why extracurricular activities, hobbies, and volunteer work are crucial for tapping into a broader range of talents.
• 😀 Personal examples, like the story of a daughter who was steered toward orthodontics due to misinformed influences, demonstrate the importance of recognizing one’s true aptitudes early on.
• 😀 Testing aptitudes and understanding them can guide people to more satisfying and authentic career paths, and it's never too late to reassess and realign one's professional trajectory.

Q & A

What is the central theme of the script?

The central theme of the script is about understanding one's aptitudes and how they influence career choices. It emphasizes how relying on external influences for career advice can lead to dissatisfaction, and how discovering and leveraging our natural abilities (aptitudes) can lead to more fulfilling careers.

What does the speaker suggest about how we get career advice?

The speaker suggests that many people rely on external sources for career advice, such as parents, friends, media, and even strangers on airplanes. However, these sources may not be the best guides and can often be misinformed or irrelevant to an individual's true aptitudes and potential.

Why does the speaker say most career advice tools are inadequate?

The speaker argues that tools like personality tests and interest surveys are often subjective and don't provide reliable insights into a person's true aptitudes. These tools are based on self-reported preferences, which can reflect what a person already believes about themselves rather than their actual natural abilities.

What are aptitudes, and why are they important?

Aptitudes are innate abilities or natural talents that we are born with, like the 'roots' of a tree. They are important because they are permanent and stable throughout life, providing a reliable foundation for developing skills and making career choices that align with one's natural strengths.

How do aptitudes differ from skills?

Aptitudes are innate abilities, while skills are developed through learning and practice. Aptitudes serve as the foundation for acquiring skills, but skills require effort and training to master.

What is the role of hobbies and volunteer work in career development?

Hobbies and volunteer work are important because they allow individuals to explore and utilize a broader range of their aptitudes. Since no single job is likely to engage all of our natural abilities, these activities provide additional outlets for personal growth and fulfillment.

How does the speaker illustrate the concept of aptitudes with personal examples?

The speaker uses personal examples such as their daughter, who was initially encouraged to become an orthodontist, only to later discover through aptitude testing that she had more aptitude for languages and analytical tasks. Another example is Susan, a graphic designer who found fulfillment in quilting, an activity that tapped into her fine motor skills, which her job no longer did.

What does the speaker say about the importance of understanding one's aptitudes?

The speaker emphasizes that understanding one's aptitudes allows individuals to make better career choices and live more satisfying lives. It enables people to align their careers with their natural abilities, rather than being influenced by external pressures or expectations.

Why does the speaker believe it is never too late to change careers?

The speaker believes it is never too late to change careers because aptitudes are stable and permanent, and understanding them can help individuals make more informed decisions about career transitions at any stage in life. The key is knowing one's potential and focusing on what comes naturally.

What does the speaker mean by 'making a living is not the same as making a life'?

The speaker quotes Maya Angelou to highlight the distinction between working for financial survival and pursuing a fulfilling, meaningful life. 'Making a living' refers to the necessity of earning money, but 'making a life' involves finding personal satisfaction, purpose, and joy, which comes from aligning one's career with their true aptitudes.