It’s been a crazy couple of weeks at my house. I am now (temporarily) working what is undeniably full-time for the first time in 10 years. My focus word for this season: Adjustment. It’s an adjustment for me, as I figure out how to manage my work, my family, my friendships, and my home. It’s an adjustment for my kids and my husband. It’s an adjustment of priorities, schedule, and expectations.

It’s not always EASY, I’m learning a lot, and I’m loving it all.

The post that follows is a re-post (with permission and a few adjustments) of a post that originally appeared at Mountain State University LeaderTalk. During these busy days, I am taking my own advice and using everything.

Here are a few things about me that you may already know:

I like to write.

I enjoying making connections between people. For that reason, I love social media; just last night, my daughter told me she thinks I’m addicted to Facebook (no surprise there).

I’m passionate about being intentionally involved in my daughters’ lives.

I get up really early because I love start my day productively, with my work uninterrupted.

Here are a few things you may not know:

I enjoy cooking and baking.

I prefer structure and routine.

My undergrad degree is in creative writing. Up until the time I graduated from college, I wrote lots of poetry.

In the years before I began writing this blog, I wanted to write my own blog. Instead, I read other people’s blogs — voraciously.

I’m left handed.

Start with making a list like the one above. I limited mine for the sake of this blog post, but make yours as long as you can. Write down as much as you can about yourself: your unique abilities and talents but also your quirks and preferences.

Consider how many of your gifts you actually use in your daily life and work.

Whether you work for yourself or within an organization, one way to maximize resources as a leader is to identify and use all your own gifts and talents.

If you work independently, you may find it easy to integrate many of your abilities into your business. But even if you work within an organization, once you identify your own assets, you will be able to look for —even create — opportunities to use them. Or, you can enrich your life (and others’) by finding ways to leverage your talent after-hours.

Be playful. I like to daydream about a world in which I can simultaneously use my talents: teaching a group of people about sign language while serving them a treat of homemade muffins. Or starting a blog about leadership and ice cream recipes. Or coaching teachers about how to use social media to enhance learning. If you start to list ideas that sound crazy, you’ll eventually come up with some that sound viable.

The trick is to use everything.

Use it all, every day, to make a difference, wherever you are.

Becky Robinson

I am the founder/CEO of the Weaving Influence team, the author of Reach: Creating the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause, and the host of the Book Marketing Action Podcast. I’m a wife and mom of three kids, and I enjoy running, reading, writing, coffee, and dark chocolate.