Hello Friends!
We have all heard people say we should “cater to our strengths and minimize our weaknesses”… but what does this really mean? There are a million definitions out there, but I recently heard it explained in a way that really struck a chord with me. It was so simple… yet made so much sense.
Busting the Myth
Many people think of strengths as something they are good at, and weakness as something they are bad at. Have you ever been really good at something you hated though? Does that still make it a strength?
An example in my life is that I once worked as an executive assistant. I was great at keeping our executive’s travel plans, calandars and presentation materials in perfect order. They loved me because I was also good at anticipating their needs and taking their requests one step further to really go above and beyond.
Guess what? I hated that job. Even though I was good at it – I felt like I was just doing other people’s grunt work instead of doing something valuable and worthwhile. Not saying that this wouldn’t feel like meaningful work for someone else – but for me, I got no fulfilment from it.
Ok… here’s the sentence that gave me an entire paradigm shift on how I think of Strengths and Weakness…
Strengths Make You Feel Strong and Weakness Make You Feel Weak
This may sound over simplified, but it was a huge “ah-ha!” moment for me. It was a great exercise to through what made me feel alive and strong, and then think about how I could bring more of those moments into my life. On the flip side, evaluating what makes me feel weak or powerless was really eye opening as well. Once they were defined… it opened the door for me to face them head on, or think of ways to minimize those moments in my life.
Try this Exercise
I challenge you to take a few minutes and just free-write your thoughts. Think about what makes you feel strong and write down anything that comes to mind – then do the same for what makes you feel weak. Don’t pre-judge any of your thoughts or try to form them into a coherent idea. Just let it roll out of your brain without restriction.
I hope this will be an eye opening exercise for you to better identify your strengths and weaknesses.
How is this Info Helpful?
Once you have your free-write from both sides – take the time to look through what you wrote down. Are there certain themes? Maybe there are ways you can incorporate more moments of strength within your day.
This is a great exercise for entrepreneurs as well. As you think of business ideas – make sure you are really in tune with how your strengths and weaknesses will affect that business idea before you get started. It may even highlight areas that you are super passionate about and may have an opportunity to build a business around.
I hope you found this little paradigm shift to be as helpful as I did. I’d love to hear if you have a different way of identifying strengths and weaknesses that has worked really well for you. When we all get together to share our knowledge and insights – that’s when growth happens.
Thanks so much for watching my Dtube vlog and/or reading this post!
Xo, Lea
▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS
Great idea for a post @coruscate. I think people are really searching for tools to help them find themselves again! Thanks for sharing your tricks and insight. I'm sure this will help many!
Aww thank you for kind words @everlove!
<3
I hope you will be inspired to bring some of your creative spirit to the Art Space at the Steem Creators Conference. A little flute/dance/yoga/ahhhh action would be amazing, and of course any other offering you'd love to share. Would be so blessed!
This post really made me think as I don't think in terms of strengths & weaknesses. But then I had to break it down to fit into those words. Great soul work here.
Im so glad you found this post thought provoking! 😊
It is very easy to feel weak, but very difficult to stay strong. But once you master it you can change everything. I am the same opinion. Working for others doesnt bring me any joy. I feel happy only when I do things and see them growing in front of me. Thats the real joy!
I love it! So awesome to hear that you are able to live your dreams! ❤️
You know something @coruscate. There is so much strength in doing what you love. Am having a similar experience at my present work right now because honestly I don't like the job atall And I hope to change that pretty soon. Thanks for sharing your experience
Sorry to hear that you are unhappy in your current job! Hopefully you are able to make a positive shift to something you love. ❤️
Thanks 💕
I love this exercise of yours is definitely try it out.
I love the way you redefined strength and weakness as relating to productivity.
This very helpful to me as an Entrepreneur.
Thanks for sharing Sis.
💖
I’m so glad you found this post helpful! Thanks for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment.
To help you think about what to include in your strengths and weaknesses, try asking yourself questions like:
What am I good at?
What have others complimented me about?
What have others had to help me with on more than one occasion?
Which projects and tasks seem to drain my energy?
Which projects have I spent hours on without getting tired?
What are my hobbies, and why do I like doing them?
Great list! Thanks for adding to the conversation!
.
Well thank you! I use a little makeup, but I’m lazy when it comes to that stuff... so I dont do much. 😜
Thanks for sharing video and also explain by writing it keep it up You are really a great creative and doing hard work to creat contents i appereciate you for that and strongly agree with you for that strength make us feel strong and weaknee fell us to make weak
hope you visit my blog thanks
Thanks hun! I’m glad you found the post helpful. 😉
I would try the exercise for sure! :) Thank you!
Challenge, where you can win up to 100s $SD!
If you want to, you can try it here:
https://steemit.com/contest/@guessandgain/guess-and-gain-3-2-day-win-usd
Knowing our strength enables us to maximise the use of it. Knowing our weaknesses do help us to know what we should avoid or get help. If we are weak with something and we can recognise it, we can always get someone who has the strength in it to complete. A business leader should be one who can identify talents to help with their own lack of it.
Well said! Knowing your strength ps and weaknesses can help you better understand where you need support.
Your huge "ah-ha" moment doesn't sit with me. I was expecting some simple but yet profound. Anyways it was enjoyable reading your post.
I’m glad you still enjoyed the post, even if you didn’t connect with it. What makes an “ah-ha!” moment for one person may hold no meaning for another.
Take care!
The key to any goal is to identify your goals, there are concepts that totally confuse us and take us away from the right path, the time to meet thoughts is valuable and give weight to what really fills us and matters, thank you for sharing.
Excellent publication and very good words. It is very true that we must be aware that our strengths are always much more than weaknesses. Besides that we must be where we are happy. Greetings from Venezuela
Weaknesses become strengths.
Congratulations @coruscate, this post is the fifth most rewarded post (based on pending payouts) in the last 12 hours written by a Hero account holder (accounts that hold between 10 and 100 Mega Vests). The total number of posts by Hero account holders during this period was 351 and the total pending payments to posts in this category was $4406.42. To see the full list of highest paid posts across all accounts categories, click here.
If you do not wish to receive these messages in future, please reply stop to this comment.
yayayaya
Awesome post, this will definitely help people dealing with similar issues!
When you learnet that how to stay strong then that time you achieved the important goal in your life. And you will feel the happiness anywhere in any situation.
You may like my travel series too- Travel Series (Part #2) Rome, Italy, Must visit Destination