Self-reflection

A successful career starts by knowing who you are and finding out about or recognising your own qualities. It is not only your education, training and the labour market that determine where you end up, but your personal characteristics, ambitions and wishes also play a part.

Who am I?

If you are aware of who you are, what you can do and what you want, you will be able to present yourself better in a pitch or job application. If you know what you want and in which direction you would like to develop artistically, that makes it easier to make practical choices as well. Self-reflection plays a role in all other skills.

Who you are is determined by several factors: your background, upbringing, character, intelligence, values, motivations and orientation towards society. People often give as qualities the characteristics that cost them a lot of effort, because their genuine talents come to them easily. To chart your qualities, you can use Daniel Ofman's theory of the Core Quadrant, for example, according to which your core qualities are the characteristics that are your specific strengths. These are also your pitfalls, because you may take these qualities too far.

What can I do?

Knowledge, skills and competences determine what you can do. Knowledge comprises what you have learnt about your discipline during your education and training as well as various forms of intelligence, such as creative intelligence: the ability to arrive at a good design or idea. Your skills are everything else you have picked up, such as languages, computer programmes or making budgets. Competences are qualities and characteristics that you need in order to do something.

What do I want?

What you want is connected with your interests, dreams, ambitions, motivation and desires. Do you want to start out as a self-empolyed person, develop further abroad, or teach, for example? Do you have a plan for the long term, or do you prefer to focus on the near future? How do you keep an eye on your own (artistic) development if you are mainly occupied with organising work for yourself or jump from one project to another?

Personal entrepreneurship

The answers to the questions 'Who am I?', 'What can I do?' and 'What do I want?' lead to a personal profile with which you can develop further professionally. Personal entrepreneurship is about positioning yourself to your advantage in the field of work, based on a critical reflection of your personal artistic wishes and a realistic analysis of your personal skills. You continue to maintain a critical eye on the broad field of work in which you want to work yourself, see your opportunities and seize them. Don't become fixated on a single dream career and dare to share your plans with others.

You and society

As a professional in the arts and cultural sector, it is not only important that you know what you want and are able to do, but also that you have a vision of how you relate to the world around you. State the impact your work has on society, how you relate to your audience and urgent social themes.

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Specifying values