Qualities are gifted. Skills are acquired. The question is, which is better to capitalize on? Is it better to realize your qualities and make them your skills, or is it more viable to identify the work skills for resume, which the market demands, and then imbibe them?

The answer is debatable. In our opinion, it should depend on what your goal in life is, which is whether you want to become a successful SOMEONE or a successful YOU. Whether you want to earn a living or earn yourself what you deserve and what you can enjoy doing throughout your life. The much demanded Communication Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Management Skills, Technical Skills and Leadership Skills can all be acquired but to excel at them, you need to be backed by your own intrinsic qualities.

Exhibiting qualities is usually enjoyable because it’s what comes naturally to you. You excel at things which involve showcasing your inherent personal qualities, while skills are taught and learnt and seem like a task to master and subsequently perform. Qualities alone though can not completely propel you towards a successful life. You can sustain your qualities, but they need to be polished and held on to, otherwise you lose the hang of them. So our first piece of advice is that if you convert your gifted self into your professional self, that would be the best case scenario. But on the other hand, the theoretical advice stands to be “Master your skills to an extent where they end up becoming your qualities.” Or even better is to “Make a perfect combination of your qualities and your skill-set which makes you unbeatable when put to a test of versatility and standing out.”

That’s the way that you need to evolve today. You have to be the kind of individual who is able to make work fun. You have to bring some hobbies related to your qualities to your desk. Use them to give you the much needed boost which shall hold the potential to make you outperform others. These hobbies could mean listening to music while working, or taking part in sports events and similar cultural activities at work whenever given a chance. Even if you fail at doing that, don’t ever give up on your good qualities. They are what make you, YOU. As Bruce Wayne would say in Batman Begins, “It’s not who I am underneath… but what I *do*… that defines me.” And you should hold onto them for the same reason.

Qualities should complement your skills or the other way round. They should serve you well in moments when you break-free. They should motivate you through and through, and should be the reason why someone is referred to as ‘gifted’.

In a nutshell, it is one of those debates where the conclusion invariably leads to “striking a balance is the key”. While it may be difficult and time consuming to strike the correct chord, once you do, everything else would be that much more enjoyable. Choose your balance, and don’t forget to share it with us when you do.