I discovered my strengths using StrengthsFinder 2.0 and it changed my life
Find your strengths and master them, avoid the path of most resistance.
In life we have a tendency to try and fix our weaknesses. In many ways, it makes sense. Try and improve yourself to become more rounded and to iron out any personality deficiencies.
On the surface it makes sense to analyse ourselves, work out what we aren’t good at then try our upmost to hone those depleted skills.
But using energy to focus and build on your weaknesses is actually a long venture down the path of most resistance. In other words, it’s an uphill battle. In even simpler terms; it’s a bad idea.
To focus on your weaknesses means you’re not focusing on your strengths.
But we can’t be blamed for focusing on our weaknesses, as a society we’ve learnt to do it. It’s become deeply engrained.
In Western society being an underdog and overcoming improbable odds is often a celebrated narrative (just watch Kingsman for starters) so who can blame us for wanting to overcome our weaknesses and overcome a challenge.
But overcoming our weaknesses is simply a fantasy target; the trick to success lies in building your strengths
Since discovering mine, I’ve left my weaknesses far behind and instead focused my efforts on going with the grain and becoming excellent at what I’m already good at, instead of being average at something I couldn’t previously do.
Think about it…
In his prime David Beckham was a dead ball specialist, he could take a killer free-kick. Yes, he had tonnes of natural ability, yes he was born with an ability to sculpt a set piece but you can rest assured that he spent hours and hours on the training field, practicing his craft.
Perfecting his talent.
Now imagine if Beckham had decided, after discovering he had a natural talent for taking free-kicks that instead of honing and perfecting his ability to score a free-kick he would instead practice for a short while to be a goalkeeper; because after-all this was the weakest part of his footballing game…
Now lets be honest…
If Beckham had spent hours on the training field trying to be a goalkeeper, it wouldn’t have happened for him, there’s no chance in hell he’d have been even a half decent goalkeeper and even if he had, he’d never have reached the heights of being one of England’s most celebrated midfielders.
So, he instead built upon his strength of scoring free-kicks.
You get where I’m going with this…
It’s far more beneficial to focus on something you already have a natural talent for.
The issue for most people is they find it very challenging to identify their strengths.
Some of your strengths may be more obvious but others sit deeply within our being and they need to be goaded out so we can work on them.
It’s actually much easier to identify a weaknesses because it’s often pointed out by others but also our brain has a tendency to focus more heavily on the negative aspects of our personality.
I discovered my top 5 strengths using the Clifton Strengths Finder written by Don Clifton. This legendary survey asks approximately 50–60 questions to coax out your 5 top skills and strengths and some of them were a real surprise…
Now I’m sure there are many tools out there to determine your strengths but the Clifton strengths finder is so detailed and so thorough that it truly pinpoints your areas of promise and natural ability.\
Once you’ve identified your top 5, leave your weaknesses in the dust and get growing:
My top 5 strengths were predominantly based around strategic thinking, with my top three futuristic, strategic and ideation all coming under the broader umbrella of strategy.
I just felt it click.
This means I don’t need to waste time building less strategic areas of my skillset like accounting, logistical thinking or historical analysis.
Instead, I can double-down on being focused, freely creating ideas and embrace the fact that I want to achieve.
Determine your strengths.
This may not necessarily be via the StrengthsFinder 2.0 (if my wonderful readers are aware of other services, drop them in the comments below) but even if you whip around your friendship groups and figure out what you’re good at, it’s an incredibly powerful exercise and forces you to embrace elements of your personality that you might otherwise be pushing against.
Get those gains.
Peace.
RH.
