Just the other day, I was watching one of my friends set up her new computer. She had studied computer science and had done exceptionally well in school. What I found surprising was she knew her way around technology and yet she was still struggling with the file transfers. Suddenly, in exasperation, she exclaimed, “This is not one of my strengths!” followed by some more colourful language.
She had simply worked hard and invested a lot of time and effort into overcoming one of her weaknesses while neglecting her people skills that came so naturally to her. I had to wonder how much more effective she would have been if she had put her investment into maximizing something that came easily to her.
Let’s take a look at a prime example of excellence — my favorite golfer, Tiger Woods. Playing golf was one of his natural talents. The main reason why Tiger Woods is one of the world’s best golfers is because he put countless hours into developing that talent and honing his skills in golf; not in making his own wood furniture or in drafting international policies. Yes, working in those areas would have made him what we consider to be a “well-rounded individual”.
Is it not better to excel at what you enjoy and are good at and make a strong impact on the world? Become a specialist in your own work and personal life. That is not to say that you ignore your areas of needed improvement. Those can be managed while you put your energy into your own excellence.
There are some steps you can take to structure your life and accomplishments from a strong vantage point. You can identify your strengths, recognize your area of improvement and then develop the strengths while managing the areas of improvement.
Identifying your own strengths
• Is the activity you’re doing increasing your energy?
• Are you excited and eager to get to it?
• Do you often lose track of time while you are doing it?
• Does it feel effortless to you?
• Is this something you loved to do as a child?
Working with your strengths should feel natural and easy. It is a gift and that’s why it feels so effortless for you. That same task is likely to be a challenge for someone else, so accept the gift and multiply it.
Recognizing your areas of improvement
• Do you dread doing this activity?
• Do you procrastinate?
• Do you feel drained and mentally exhausted afterwards?
• Do you get the urge to kick the neighbour’s cat every time you have to go to work?
Then chances are those activities you are doing are not in your areas of strength. It doesn’t matter if you’re good at doing them. Skills can be learned and that’s likely what you have done. You have learned skills in order to overcome your weaknesses.
Develop strengths and manage weaknesses in 5 steps
1. First, understand and accept that you cannot do everything, and certainly not do everything well. Einstein was great at physics; not so great at hair styling.
2. Ask yourself: Is this task important? A simple way to find the answer is to stop doing it and see if anyone cares.
3. Find someone who gets energized by the activities you dread and delegate to him/her. This way you can free up more time to focus on becoming exceptional. At the same time, you are encouraging someone else to work on what they love.
4. Partner with someone complementary so you can each work in your areas of strength and become exponentially more effective.
5. Choose 5 activities that you already do well, and focus on doing them better. Once you can do those activities better and you derive a sense of satisfaction from them, go for being exceptional in those same activities!
So, whether you are a “people person” or a techno-geek, whether you prefer to work with words or with numbers, whether you naturally crave the spotlight or the darkroom, you have the ability, or maybe even the responsibility, to own your talents and craft them into excellence — at home, at work or at play.
Stand up and accept your trophy for being the best you can be. … And hope Tiger Woods doesn’t take up basketweaving.
[...] Jon wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptLet’s take a look at a prime example of excellence — my favorite golfer, Tiger Woods. Playing golf was one of his natural talents. The main reason why Tiger Woods is one of the world’s best golfers is because he put countless hours into … [...]
Very good insight. It’s true, I don’t imagine many people stop and think about a career in what they’re good at or what makes them happy. The trap is to follow the dollar because you need to make ends meet. As a wise man once told me, do you makes you happy and the money will follow.
Michael, you are so right.
Part of the issue, I will go on a limb and say a major issue is our education system. Not sure about you but I do not recall ever being taught about pursuing happiness, finding your strengths etc. Heck, I do not think the word passion, purpose, happiness was ever part of my educational system.
Never quite on your self
Fred
How often do you update your blog?
if you are referring to how often do I post. At the moment I am only shooting for 1 a week. at times there might be more and at times I might miss a week.