Want to figure out your area of success? Think like a child
By: Kai Wong
Tags: Careers, Writing, Productivity, Startup, Psychology

Want to figure out your area of success? Think like a child

Finding alternative uses for skills you already have

Photo by MI PHAM on Unsplash

My first book had to be a epic fantasy novel. That was what I told myself when I was in high school.

As a result, I wrote a nearly 1000 page fantasy epic throughout high school and college. I even sent it to traditional publishing houses only to be rejected.

Yeah, I’ll get around to reading/editing this sometime….

I’m not really bitter about that. They had every right to reject me: I am an awful fantasy author.

At the time, I had the notion of being the next Christopher Paolini, and it showed. My novel was barely coherent, my characters had no consistency in their actions, and it constantly changed between 1st and 3rd person.

The reason for that was because I was writing a novel like a collection of short stories. An idea for a chapter would pop into my head between classes, and I’d write it without referencing anything I had written before.

The point is, when I failed as a fantasy author, I thought I’d never write again. I’d get a career completely unrelated to writing, and would never use writing ever again in my life.

Yeah, right.

I’m not a fantasy author, but I’ve found a field and direction that I’m passionate about (Design). Unsurprisingly, it relies on writing to communicate ideas. How I got there was by asking myself one question:

“What are your strengths?”

Thinking like a child

By now, you must be rolling your eyes. This is a question that you’ve read or maybe answered on a long list of interview questions.

But I’m not talking about an interview. Forget the suit and tie, the nervous sweat, the interviewer. Go back, way back to the playground.

Did you ever role-play as different jobs when you were a kid? Imagine yourself as an astronaut, a firefighter, a spy? If you ever played around in any of those roles, what objects did you use?

I’m pretty sure there wasn’t an astronaut helmet and a spy badge laying around in your playground. Most likely, you used whatever was available: a stick, a stone, or even just your fingers.

If a stick can be both a magical sword and a fire hose in a child’s mind, why can’t your skills be multiple things as well?

Fortunately, there’s a test designed for measuring children’s creativity that can help you figure out what alternative uses there are for your skills: It’s called the Alternative Uses test.

Designed by JP Guilford in 1967, it asks the user to think about alternative uses for an object.

For example, a tire is normally used to drive with on a car.

What are alternative uses for it?

A tree swing

A bumpy ride down a hill

Exercise equipment

A weak trampoline

Etc.

So how do you start this process?

Describe your job to a child

Imagine you’re at a career day at a school, where different people are telling a room full of 4th graders about their jobs. What words would you use to tell these children about what you do?

When I was thinking about my writing, I thought about the skills that I had developed. I could:

Synthesize a simple idea/environment into a story

Observe the world closely for ideas and scenarios

Write quickly and somewhat clearly

From there, I thought about what other fields might benefit from this. I had a long list which included:

Copywriter

Technical Writer

Designer

Scientist

Researcher

Marketing

Architect

Etc.

From there, I explored a number of these different careers until I found one that I wanted to pursue.

The power of imagination

What you imagine life will be like as a child may not always be the case. I know people who wanted to be doctors who are now teachers. I never wanted to have anything to do with healthcare, and now I’m trying to get into healthcare UX.

But we should never forget about the power of imagination. Being able to imagine a different career every day through play can be a useful tool if you find yourself creatively pigeonholed.