Some people know what their strengths are and set life goals when they are very young. I have a good friend who knew at 14 that he was going to be a(n) ________. Since he knew he was not going to be a scientist or an engineer, he never felt ________ not being good at those things. He ________ paid attention to his strengths and built on them. Now he is a famous artist.

But not all of us are ________ this. For many people, learning what strengths we have or deciding what strengths to build on is not ________. We have to make a great effort to learn about what we are good at or who we want to be.

Another friend of ________ seemed to be good at everything. In college, he learned physics, law and math. But when he graduated, he became interested in art and ________ to be an artist. So he got a ________ making computer art. But soon he and his boss ________ that he was not really an artist. He was good at working on computers, ________ he was not good at making art. Knowing that, he joined a computer company and ________ a fantastic software designer.

Neither of my friends can ________ in the other’s field. The artist can’t design software, and the software designer can’t make art. Both of them ________ their strengths. Mark Twain responded to the saying “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” by saying, “Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket.” This is the ________ of my friends’ success. They both ________ a “basket” to put all of their eggs in. Where is your “basket”? Have you found it?