Putting your strengths to work

Recently, I got an opportunity to understand the power of using your strengths. Strength’s aren’t same as talents. When an individual focuses on building his talents, he can develop strengths that can set him apart from the crowd.

Talents can only take you so far in your life, serving the purpose only during the initial year of your career. Sustaining for the long term requires capitalizing on your strengths. This is especially true in times like today when resources are limited, world is getting competitive and work is getting complex. Successful leaders lead by strengths, talents only aid the process.

By understanding your strengths, you are able to focus more on what you are good at. This will help in organizing tasks and events in an effective manner, knowing which task will require more preparation, time, and attention. Strong teams are built by bringing people together possessing diverse strengths.

One of the way to evaluate your strengths is through self-assessment. There are many online tools available for this purpose. One of the popular ones is Clifton’s strength finder. Once you have the list of your strengths, you can determine the areas, where you can use these strengths. Another way of recognizing your strengths is to ask people who know you well to identify what they feel are your strengths. With this feedback, look for any common traits or patterns. Then make a list and determine what they suggest about you. Create an action plan to put your strengths to good use.

Knowing you strengths is important because it gives you the wisdom to manage you time, aids in boosting self-confidence to make right decisions and leads you towards a richer path of life-long growth and happiness. Take out time to understand your strengths, make a plan to use them and put them into action. The more you act on your strengths, the more power you’ll get to change the life of yourself as well as of others around you.