Isn’t time you played to your strengths?

Many people spend far more time focusing on their weaknesses than on recognising and developing their natural strengths. From workplace appraisals to everyday conversations, attention is often placed on what needs improving rather than what already works well. However, understanding and using your strengths can be transformational, helping you feel more confident, energised, productive, and fulfilled both personally and professionally.

Have you noticed just how much we talk about weaknesses, yet so few of us really know what our true strengths are, let alone know how to play to them?

At work and in our social lives we are constantly reminded what we aren’t doing right. Appraisals from our boss or a well meaning friend in the pub are quick to point out where there is room for improvement.

The problem is that this just focuses yet more of our time on the things we may never excel in or even be relatively good at.

Isn’t it time for us to learn more about our strengths and how we can focus on them?

Understanding your natural strengths

My first introduction to understanding strengths was when I came across the work of Marcus Buckingham, from the Gallup Organisation, many years ago.

Their research, based on over 40 years of interviews with over 10 million people worldwide, brought a refreshing insight on people development and how we can be at our best.

Today there are even more tools that help us understand our strengths including the updated StrengthsFinder2 and many other online assessments.

Whereas StrengthsFinder2 helps us establish our top 5 talents, other tools distinguish between realised strengths, unrealised strengths and learnt behaviours, things that we have learnt to do well but which cost us a lot of energy.

Using strengths to create positive change

These tools are a good starting point that you can then work on either by yourself, or with the support of an experienced coach, so that you can devise a plan and put it into action.

Understanding strengths can be life changing.

It enables us to focus on the possible, drawing our attention to the things we do naturally well, and offering us the opportunity to develop these even further into excellence, or simply to ensure we are having more fun using them.