To Succeed, Play to Your Strengths
Aloysius Carl
Driving Growth | Product Leader & Founder | Influencer | AI & LLM Applications Specialist | International Business Pro | Speaker & Author
We all have innate talents and strengths, those things we excel at and enjoy, but in continuing our journeys of growth and development many of us feel a pressure to focus on our weaknesses.? In doing this our goal is to dramatically improve our weaknesses and to supposedly (at least according to some) turn them into strengths.? Unfortunately, in doing this we may actually be making a very big mistake.?
According to success experts, chances are that we are paying too much attention to negative information. ?Millions of people are worried and focused on thinking about how to get rid of their weaknesses, but what would happen if we turned things around and started focusing on our strengths instead?? The bitter truth is that most of us will never fully overcome our weaknesses, but we can all make significant improvements in how we live and work by focusing on what we are good at.
Multiple studies have shown that while people remember criticism, awareness of our faults does not necessarily translate into better performance.? It has further been shown that knowing our strengths offers us a better understanding of how to deal with our weaknesses and helps us to gain the confidence needed to address them.? Knowing, understanding and appreciating our strengths allows us to say, “Hey, I am fantastic at coordinating the team but not good at the accounting side.? Rather than going through a painful process to develop the skill, let’s find me a numbers partner.”? ?Maximizing our strengths is where our greatness lies. ?As Albert Einstein once said,
“Everyone is a genius.? But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”?
The key here is that by focusing on our strengths we don’t have to change who we are; we just have to become more of who we are!? Once we discover and understand them, we can use our strengths to better shape the positions we choose to work in.? Utilizing and focusing on our strengths allows us to be more creative, collaborative, energetic, efficient, motivated, happier and successful.
The value of focusing on strengths applies to teams as well.? Teams that pursue strengths-based development realize an increase of 10X employee engagement versus those that do not, and they realize better employee retention as well.? According to a Gallup workplace employee survey, 60% of employees said the ability to do what they do best in a role is “very important” to them.?
Strengths are where our talent, skills, knowledge and passions intersect.? Noted author, consultant and success coach Marcus Buckingham says that:
“Strengths are not activities you’re good at, they’re activities that strengthen you.? A strength is an activity that before you’re doing it you look forward to doing it; while you’re doing it, time goes by quickly and you can concentrate; after you’ve done it, it seems to fulfill a need of yours.”?
Strengths refers to activities that meet the following criteria:
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If the majority of our job involves activities that heavily engage our strengths, we are much more likely to deliver a fantastic performance,?enjoy what we are doing, be intrinsically motivated, be happier and more successful.? The importance of getting in touch with and exploiting our signature strengths has been proven time and again. ?Several studies (Gander et al, 2012; and Mongrain & Anselmo-Matthews, 2012) found that using signature strengths in a new way increased happiness and decreased depression in individuals. ?US psychologists Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman found that once we become aware of what our positive attributes are, we can apply them to our lives on a daily basis and make better choices, leading to greater levels of happiness and life satisfaction.?
Unfortunately, many of us are not clear as to our strengths.? Surveys asking people to name their strengths have found that only one-third of them can readily do so because many may find it hard to say exactly what it is they’re good at. ?There are a number of reasons why we have a tendency to not understand or focus on our strengths and these include:
Whatever the reasons are for us not being clear on our strengths, we need to do the work to acknowledge and understand them so we can leverage them for our success.? Here are a number of links to information to help you work on determining your strengths:?
Once you determine your strengths, make a plan to continue their development and focus on leveraging them in your career.? In addition, develop a better understanding of your weaknesses and a plan for managing/addressing them. ?Here are some links to additional information regarding Focusing On Strengths:
There is probably an unlimited number of character traits (strong leadership ability, being a good negotiator, having a laser-like focus, etc.) that can contribute to our success in business. ?One of the critical deciding factors in how successful we will become will come down to how quickly and effectively we find our strengths, build them into valuable assets and focus on leveraging them in our careers.?
“If you spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be great at anything.”?-?Tom Rath,?Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow: A Landmark Study of Great Leaders, Teams, and the Reasons Why We Follow
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