Category: Personal Strengths

The One Reason Why You Must Know Your Strengths

I hope you have had the opportunity to discover your strengths through some testing instrument like Strengths Finder 2.0. Highly successful people normally have a good understanding of themselves. They are more aware, and they focus in the area of their strengths.

Knowing your strengths will open allow you to target your energy in the areas that will most likely be successful. If you want to be exceptional, focus on what you are good at. Seems simple.

When I took the Strengths Finder test, I discovered my top five strengths were learner, strategic, analytical, intellection, and responsibility.

If I had read the list of 34 strengths before I took the test, I would have been able to divide the list in two halves. One half being strengths, and the other half weaknesses (or weaker strengths). I would not have been able to specifically define my top five strengths.

So what does knowing provide me? Based on my strengths, I know the following. I like to learn. I like to evaluate situations or circumstances and find the best solution. I like logic, data, patterns and connections. I like to think, and I own my commitments.

These strengths support my focus and interest in personal growth, and daily reflection. Even though I think personal growth and reflection would be beneficial to everyone, not everyone embraces this idea for themselves.

My strengths determine how I see the world, and how I enjoy life. They define my view of how the world should be. I sometimes make the mistake of assuming that people are like me.

You have your own lens through which you view the world. Your view is just as strong as mine, only it is different. You have to be you, and I have to be myself.

Because I know my strengths, and I reflect daily on my success, I have learned that I do better when I use my strengths. The farther out of my strength zone I go, the more frustrated I get with my results. My strength zone is not the same as my comfort zone. I am best when I continue to learn, when I find problems that need solved, and when I can use data and research to support my activities. I also do best when I have time to think about my work, not just do it.

Recently I have been trying to reduce the scope of my activities to really focus on my strengths. It has increased my success, my energy, and improved my attitude. I am more excited now about the future. If you know your strengths, find a way to leverage them. If you don’t know them, grab a copy of Strengths Finder 2.0.

Reaching a Milestone: Another Opportunity for Reflection

Four years ago, I started writing articles and mailing a newsletter. This article is the 200th article I have written and posted. It is a milestone. A step in a journey, but not the goal. I did not set a target of writing 200 articles. I began this process only to convey ideas that I thought would help others. But along the way, I learned that it helped me also.

Those of you that read my articles regularly know my purpose and passion is to help people expand their awareness, grow belief in themselves, and discover new opportunities for success. It is what I do as a coach and trainer at New Roads Leadership. When I help my clients, I want them to examine themselves, and really learn about their values, their passions, and their habits.

Most people would tell you that they know what they value. They could describe their values with words like honesty, loyalty, and openness. But to truly know your values, they must be challenged. How do you react to adverse situations? The clearer you can visualize your potential actions, the more effective you can be at living your values.

For me, writing these articles provides a forum for my own analysis. I am able to take an idea, and explore it. I can recall situations that were affected by my values, and reflect on lessons learned. I think and challenge myself. I can seek alternatives that would have served me better, and actions that would create better results. I search for excellence, improvement, and success.

I plan to keep writing. My hope is that my words can continue to challenge your thoughts. I am looking forward to my next 200 articles.

Break Your Bad Habits

I have both good and bad habits. I would really like to change that so I have only good habits. You may be feeling the same way. Our habits define our success. Not only do we desire to develop good habits, we want to squash our bad habits.

If you are ready to start, here is one plan to follow. Determine the habit you wish to break, then apply these 4 actions:

1. Define your “why”. Why is the elimination of this habit important for you? How will it change you? What will you do with the time and resources you save? Create a clear and strong desire to change. Without the internal aspiration and motivation, eliminating a habit will be nearly impossible.

2. Find a better substitute. What can you replace this habit with? Define your plan of action for when you are tempted. This can be as simple or as complex as needed. If you want to stop drinking soda, find something else to replace it, maybe green tea. If you want to reduce the time you spend watching television, use a different activity to unwind in the evenings, maybe reading. This is an opportunity to turn a bad habit into a good habit. Always substitute with something better.

3. Reflect each day on your progress and your purpose. This step cannot be skipped if you are going to succeed. Rarely is our initial desire to change strong enough for us to change overnight. The daily reflection process allows you to reinforce your desire to change. You can use it to determine if your substitute is working. You can continually invigorate yourself with your “why”.

4. Be persistent. We fail when we give up, not before. If you have a bad day, don’t give up. Keep going. To start, you need more good days than bad days. Eventually the good days will outnumber the bad days two to one, then three to one, then four to one, and so forth. Lack of persistence is the ultimate cause of all of our failures. Persistence will always win.

Just writing this article has me ready to tackle at least one of my habits. I hope you will join me in making your daily routine better. Pick a habit you are ready to kill, and let’s get started.

Why Is It So Hard to Be Intentional?

Yesterday I attended the event, Get Motivated Indy. I enjoyed the day, the speakers, the messages, the offers.  But yet, I found myself thinking about why it is so hard to stay motivated, and intentional with our actions. The speakers had everyone energized, excited, and ready to take action. Of course, we know that talking about action is easier than taking action.

I am curious about how many people will follow through with their intentions after yesterday’s event. From my experience the percent is very small. Change is a process, not an event. We can gain inspiration from the event, but that rarely turns into the motivation to make changes in our life. We often lack the persistence to stick with it. We fail to do the work. We fail to change our ideas into actions.

One of my mastermind groups just finished a 15 week study on growing through failure. Our final discussion was about how difficult it is to embrace failure and take risks, even when we know we must. We know risk is the path to success. We know growth happens outside the comfort zone. But yet, it is still hard.

Success is not easy. People want easy. What is going to motivate you to take action? What is going to motivate you through failure? What is going to give you the perseverance to learn from your mistakes?

These are questions that we should continually be asking ourselves. I know this much. It comes from within. You can’t find motivation from a speaker, a book, an event. You can find knowledge. You can find inspiration. But you will not gain motivation.

From yesterday’s event, I discovered some actions and ideas that I want to pursue. Actions I want to be intentional about accomplishing. But the motivation to follow through must come from me.

Why is this important to understand? We are bombarded by motivational messages. They are helpful, only when they touch us in a way that we have a desire to respond. If we are impacted by them, we need to search within ourselves for the motivation to act and be persistent.

How does that happen? I think our motivation is strongest when we have clarity about our purpose, our passion, our goals, our values, and our desired legacy. When we find ourselves inspired and it is aligned with what we want and who we are, we become empowered. Many people fail to become clear on what it is they want to achieve, and why they want to achieve it. Unfortunately, this prevents people from becoming highly motivated.

When you find yourself lacking motivation, what helps you get back on track?