This question stumps most of my clients. It's not a trick question. It's just that most people overthink it.

They go right to skills and no-how. They start comparing themselves to others to find differences that make them stand out (to themselves).

The answer is both obvious and subtle.Your life experiences and the coping mechanisms you acquired along the way make you uniquely creative. How you process and make sense of your own life attracts you to certain problems that you are uniquely qualified to solve. That is why one person's path to success arc cannot be the same for another.

The problem is that our unique abilities get edited out of our lives at such a young age. All through school and later in our jobs we are told to get with the program, fit in, get on the bus. When really, it is our unique perspective on the world that will help solve the world's greatest problems.

Each of our journeys is unique because one person's tactical steps cannot be the same for everyone. The choices we've made in our lives have a deep context.When we start out in life we are issued backpacks, of sorts. Our packs filled with very different things. Some of the contents are advantageous. Others are quite heavy and detrimental. The ratio of those items varies for each of us.

But that pack doesn't need to stay the way you got it. As you make progress or suffer setbacks in your life, you can toss some of those items and rearrange the contents. And, you get to accept the cups of water, energy bars, and free advice from the people you come across all along your route.

I challenge you to be both a well-prepared hiker and enthusiastic support to others along the way.