Do you know your strengths?
And do you focus on boosting and leveraging your strengths at work, in your business or in your life?
Or are you like most of the population that spends inordinate amounts of money and time trying to improve their weaknesses?
I don’t blame you.
We work so hard on our weaknesses hoping to get better, or even good because we have been conditioned to do so through the schooling system. We are taught to become, and rewarded for being, well-rounded individuals!
Tom Rath, author of StrengthsFinder 2.0 and Strength Based Leadership uses years of research to assert that “If you spend your life trying to be good at everything, you will never be great at anything.”
Indeed, decades of research by The Gallup Organisation found that “each individual has enduring distinct abilities” and that “individuals can develop most effectively by building on their strengths.”
When I first came across this concept many years ago, I realised that my success will be based on amplifying my strengths rather than struggling to fix my weaknesses.
So, when I worked in corporate, I focused on building teams around me with skills that filled the gaps I had. Leading with my strengths resulted in more moments of success and has contributed to building my overall confidence and sense of achievement.
When you focus on fixing your weaknesses, it’s usually a hard slog that takes time and can be quite demoralising. That’s because more often than not you won’t achieve mastery, you won’t enjoy the process or the work, and at the end of the day, you’ll probably just become average in that specific area.
Imagine if we could spend more time working and expanding our expertise in our areas of strengths instead. In other words, working on our talents or on what come to us with ease and joy.
We could become phenomenal!
So, how about you focus on your strengths and outsource the rest. That’s what I’m doing this year and it’s working out great.