I think the answer to this is the same as my answer to many other questions: consistency.
My steady-plodding abilities are extremely useful in multiple areas of my life, and professional life is one of them.
I was a dependable, on-time, hard-working employee at Nordstrom.
I was a consistent, dependable piano teacher.
I was a consistent, dependable church musician.
I am a consistent, dependable blogger.
And if I manage to hang in there and get my nursing degree, I am pretty sure that I will be a consistent, dependable nurse.
There are a lot of other good professional skills one can have, but if you have those skills but lack consistency, those skills are not that useful.
If you know how to be consistent, though, all of your other skills become more useful because consistency compounds the value of other skills.
I suppose if I ever had a job that required outside the box thinking and lots of imaginative, creative processes, my steady-plodder side wouldn’t be super valuable. But luckily there are plenty of jobs where steady plodding is just fine!
Confidence. People definitely respond to that, although with the unintended consequence that I am often assumed to know more than I actually do.
Jill of all trades, mistress of none. TBH, that’s sometimes an asset and sometimes a curse.
I am good at being given a huge task, internally panicking for about an hour while I nod at my supervisor and act like I know what I am doing, and then sitting down with a piece of paper (this does not work on the computer for me, probably because I draw circles while thinking) and figuring out all the steps I need to take to get to that end goal. I love lists and deadlines because they provide the structure that keeps my brain from turning into a hamster on a wheel.
Confidence, or faking it when I don’t feel that way! I have to do some negotiations in my business and lead employees so being confident in a polite manner goes a long way I find. I also think I am good at perspective-taking. I try to see things from the other person’s point of view. That helps in all situations.
I am pretty level headed and usually able to keep calm in many work related situations. I work in accounting, not a hospital emergency room. But my calmness has carried me through many rough patches.
Also, never under estimate a pleasant disposition. A smile, a compliment, an offer to help are often appreciated by colleagues and supervisors.