A client of mine was recently discussing her interest in going into the legal profession. She wondered about how it might fit for her. She had recently completed the Highlands Ability Battery. Her test results showed strong problem solving abilities along with a natural conceptual organization that would serve her well in the legal profession. At first, she discussed the possibilities of becoming a paralegal and the kinds of roles paralegals play in the field of law when she remembered her assessment results and said: “Oh, no, that would never work for me”. She knew she had a strong need to be in the limelight, kind of a natural performer like Johnny Cochran and it occurred to her that being a paralegal wouldn’t quite fit.

My client is a strong specialist with a definite preference for extroversion. A specialist is someone who has a sort of drive to be the expert. Specialists come at things from their own unique perspective compared to generalists who share a common language and purpose with others. Extroversion reflects the flow of our personal energy. Extroverts are energized by interaction with others. A strong specialist with extraversion is a natural performer. This drives them to seek work that is out there for others to see and appreciate. This is not the behind the scenes type person who could care less about being in the limelight. Introversion is more like that. These types of people can work alone for long periods of time and keep on going. Being in the limelight for them is a little less natural.

In the assessment of natural abilities and inclinations there are “driving abilities” that should be considered in setting a career direction. Driving abilities naturally push people into certain career fields where these innate talents can be given expression. Driving abilities demand expression. If they don’t have an outlet in your life they will create dissatisfaction and frustration. Strong musical and artistic abilities are rather obvious examples of driving abilities, but there are others involving problem solving, conceptual organization, idea productivity and spatial relations.

In career planning it’s important to consider the push of strong innate driving abilities if you want long-term satisfaction. Quite often I see individuals who have multiple driving abilities. For them, finding satisfaction in a career is a special challenge because no one career is going to satisfy all of their innate demands. It’s especially important then, to develop a broader “life plan” that allows a balanced outlet for all their strong talents.

Some career paths develop in such a way that strong abilities have a sufficient outlet early on but get overlooked as an individual’s career develops. Sometimes people who are mid-career in a field like engineering or architecture come in with a sense of growing dissatisfaction with their work. As we dig into their work history, it often shows a turning point where a promotion to administration or management took them too far in an abstract direction for their own innate satisfaction. Often the culprit here is a strong driving ability that involves spatial relations. This ability enables a person to visualize rather easily how things in the real world work and fit together. People with a strong ability like this often need an outlet for “hands-on” type of work that allows them to produce concrete, tangible products and services. They may feel that their work is somehow unreal or unsatisfying if it doesn’t involve, literally, having tools of some sort in their hands.

Another very interesting driving ability has to do with something called Classification: a sort of quick, seat of the pants problem solving ability. People strong on classification enjoy problem solving and arrive at solutions easily. Furthermore, they are able to do this in the most chaotic of environments. Such people actually need to have a fast paced and intellectually challenging environment. They are the consummate diagnosticians in all fields. They very quickly can see the pros and cons of almost any situation and can cut through a lot of clutter to get to problem solution. An example might be an urban hospital emergency room physician who can be confronted with making urgent life and death sorts of decisions.

The down side for someone with this kind of strong driving ability is that lacking an outlet for their natural gift at problem solving they become restless and bored. They can become impatient with others who might not be keeping up with them. They are so naturally curious that they need to find things that can stimulate and satisfy this natural curiosity. If you recognize yourself in this description the challenge for you is to ensure that you have a career and life that is mentally challenging and provides a good outlet for your need to solve problems and figure things out. Without that outlet you will likely experience a good deal of frustration.

In developing a career plan many people consider the obvious such as interests: what they really can get excited about doing. But fewer have any understanding of the role of natural abilities in career satisfaction and development. Natural abilities are considered to be innate or inborn. They can affect things such as learning style, a penchant for visual detail, communication and problem solving styles, understanding of mechanical systems, a flair for art or music, sports and athletics and creativity.

Research on abilities indicates that although all abilities are important for self-knowledge and career planning, the driving abilities in particular have an uncanny and powerful influence on what we do in the world and what we will find satisfying and rewarding. In my experience people can pretty much guess where they fall on driving abilities, but not always. If you have some dissatisfaction in your current career it might be because you have some strong abilities that your career doesn’t really use. Or, your career might demand some strong abilities that don’t come naturally to you.

Some questions you might consider to get a sense of your own driving abilities include: How do you feel about having a tool in your hands? Is it something that exerts a sort of press on you? Do you thrive in a stressful, highly stimulating environment? Or, do you prefer a structured, less chaotic work place? Are you naturally curious about a lot of things? Do you tend to get bored if you’re not being challenged enough? Do you like to develop a sort of expertise in what you do? Is developing that expertise more important than working for the good of the team?

Answers to questions such as these can help you either start preparing for adjustments you can make in your current career path or perhaps let you know you should consider embarking in an entirely new direction. Remember that long-term satisfaction in your career will depend on having ever increasing opportunities to develop your innate potential. If you have strong driving abilities, they will eventually demand a career path that gives them an outlet.

If you are having difficulty answering some of these questions you can also turn to some objective testing. I like to use the Highlands Ability Battery in my practice precisely because it makes an objective assessment of where an individual falls on the driving abilities. Then you can begin to develop a career/life plan that ensures these powerful talents don't go unused.