Finding Your Strengths
It hardly seems possible that Thanksgiving is this week! I really feel like it should still be September. What I know about Thanksgiving is that, as the holiday season comes upon us, time will only move faster. The time between now and the end of the year is going to fly past me, in a flurry of “get ready for’s” and “enjoy the moments.” Because of the speed at which 2012 is rocketing toward us, I thought it might be fun to spend the next few weeks offering you some of the most impactful and valuable resources I have found for finding joy regardless of circumstance. I will be sharing my current favorite resources in our seven major life areas: Career, Relationship, Home, Health, Finance, Spirituality and Community, in the hope that you will enter 2012 well-armed with some support you may not have had in the past. My desire is that these resources will help you, as they have helped me, remain connected to your joy throughout the year.
This week, I am starting with Career. I want to share with you a book by Tom Rath, called “Strengths Finder 2.0.” Tom discusses that we have been a culture that focuses largely on “well-rounded” knowledge bases and behavior, but that, in focusing our efforts in that way, we miss the benefits of our individual differences. One of the reasons, for example, that we may remain frustrated in our jobs or focused on our negative outcomes instead of celebrating our achievements, is because we think we should be “Straight A’s” across the board. If, in contrast, we would concentrate more on perfecting our own specialties, we could experience more fulfillment (doing what we love in an area wherein we excel) and be more valuable (becoming true experts in our own specialties).
While the concept of capitalizing on my strengths makes perfect sense to me, I’m not certain, anymore, what my true strengths are. It seems I have spent years trying to improve my areas of weakness. However, in order to envision my best-ever life in the interest of Living in Joy, then I need to know what the best experience of myself and my unique talents would entail. This is where Tom Rath enters. His book, “Strengths Finder 2.0” is an exploration, as the title suggests, of you and your strengths.
I encourage you to go to www.strengthsfinder.com, read his concept, and take the quiz. As it turns out, of the 34 different strengths, my top five are: Positivity, Input, Futuristic, Empathy, and Achievement. Well… of course. The best part of Strengths Finder is that Mr. Rath doesn’t just leave you with that. He actually provides action plans for your particular strengths, so that you can get the most out of the things that come naturally to you. Now, I can see how to work within those 5 strengths to create a career focus (inside of my current job title) that is completely fulfilling to me, while also meeting corporate goals. I can also see clearly where I need to ask for help or delegate, rather than struggling to learn more, do more, or work harder to make-up for my own deficits.
Whether 2012 is going to bring you a career change or you are just looking for a way to experience that deep pulse of joy throughout your current career workday, discovering your own strengths could be a great place to begin to make a shift in your area of focus. Here’s to the best career experience you can imagine! Please post your own strengths here, if you feel like it. You never know who might be reading and need exactly the strength you possess. Enjoy your career!
Hmmm, Career? I'm a stay-at-home Mom and I have to admit, I feel a bit embarrassed sometimes when I tell some people what my "career" is. But the truth is, I LOVE what I do. I'm one of those old fashioned girls who never had a burning passion to have a career or to climb a corporate ladder. I had always considered it a weakness, like I SHOULD want to do more with my life. But at times like last week, when I picked my 5yr old up from school, his teacher told me he had said to her, "Do you know why I'm so special?" "Why?" she said, "Because my Mommy loves me so much". I left that preschool feeling as if I had just made the biggest deal of my life, or scored the winning shot in the playoffs. "Damn, I'm good at my job!", I said to myself, and there is nothing in the world that could have made me feel more fulfilled than knowing that my child KNOWS he is loved.
ReplyDeleteOh, My Gosh, Samantha! Exactly! We can completely understand that we love what we are good at, and because we love it, we naturally get better and better at it. It doesn't make sense to say to you that using the strengths you naturally possess, which make you a great mother, are not valuable. It makes even less sense to say that you should be cultivating strengths in accounting, for example, so that you're more "well-rounded". Yet, that's what we do to ourselves all the time! We promote people out of their areas of strength, and expect them to enjoy their work. I love that you get to use your strengths, every day! Even if you were working outside of your home, I would hope that you would find the kind of career that would allow you to use those same strengths, because you are awesome in the areas of encouragement and nurturing!
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