Positive psychology is gaining more interest than ever with increased popularity and more research being done. The principles of positive psychology are broadly used to increase productivity and satisfaction in organizations, the corporate world and in personal life. On a personal level, as much as we want to work on our problems and resolve them, we feel a need for a balanced life filled with happiness.
The evidence from a number of studies shows that focusing on our weaknesses is a road to nowhere. The opposite is also very true - our strengths, if elevated can maximise our potential and increase satisfaction in both personal and professional life.
This blog post should help you to recognise what your strengths are and how you can use them to increase efficiency in whatever you do. It will also give you pointers on how to do ‘strengths spotting’, a simple way to recognise them in yourself and in others.
Strength is a natural ability, simply put it is ‘something that we are good at’. The best way to recognize it is to observe your energy level. If you are feeling energised while doing certain things, even when it takes hours, that is a vital clue that it should not be ignored. This is a good indicator that you enjoy the activity at that particular time. If over a time, you continue to enjoy this particular activity (-ies) and also notice that your energy level is the same or higher each time, then you have proof that this is your strength.
Below are a few examples that could help you understand how that works:
It might feel natural for you to produce many ideas and get them out of your head. It is easy for you to find a number of solutions for a challenge that someone else has a problem with for quite some time.
You don’t easily give up. You work through challenges one by one. It actually gives you a boost of energy to work on some challenges as you find working towards finding a resolution satisfying. You encourage others to do the same.
It might be difficult for others to talk in front of an audience but you find it very fulfilling to do so. You love sharing your stories, and being the centre of attention does not scare you at all. In doing so, you help others to share their stories as well.
These are just some of the examples that you might experience yourself while trying to understand the concept explained above. There are however different and much easier methods that can help you understand your strengths much better.
There are many online tools that can help you uncover your potential and strengths. The one that stands out is ‘Strengths Profile’ tool.
Going back to the strengths scenarios outlined above we could derive with these corresponding strengths (based on the Strengths Profile tool):
Incubator
Persistence
Spotlight
Strengths Profile is an online assessment tool that helps in identifying individual strengths based on the:
Why is it based on the above? It is because we might not, at the time of the assessment, be fully utilising our strengths despite being able to confidently identify each one and over time we can change the use of these strengths.
This online assessment provides individuals with a breakdown of 60 different strengths divided into four different quadrants:
What you will find beneficial for your development is to use your Strengths (both Realised and Unrealised) more and limit the usage of Learned Behaviours and Weaknesses. When you know your strengths and understand what drains you you can plan your days accordingly. Maybe you could delegate certain activities or ask someone for help?
It is beneficial to know the strengths of your peers. You will gain more understanding of their frustration point and increase their engagement by enabling them to do what they really love.
The benefits of knowing your strengths are:
Increased confidence - once you know more of your natural strengths you know exactly where you stand. You can start working on things you are good at and love doing.
Improved wellbeing - become more resilient and less stressed by focusing your attention towards your strengths. Your natural talents can help you along the way to the desired lifestyle, strengthening your relationships and managing through life situations.
Empowered Leadership skills - understand how you got to this point in your life and where you want to be in the future. Set up goals that will have the most impact on what you do as they are coming from your strengths.
Better career choices - don't waste your talents by sitting in a job you hate. Discover your best abilities through your strengths and understand what lights you up so you can be happy with your professional life.
As you can already see from the texts so far, knowing your strengths and focusing on the balanced usage of them, can not only help you maximize your potential but also avoid unnecessary frustrations and burnout. The inability of using the strengths in professional settings and the persistent use of learned behaviours can be really draining and have an adverse effect on our job satisfaction.
It is more important than ever to take care of ourselves so that we can enjoy our professional and personal life. Knowing your strengths through using ‘Strengths Profile’ can help you bring more balance into your life.
Equally important is to take care of one another. If you see someone struggling, help them to use more of their strengths. Observe the way they talk and what lights them up. Help them bring that more into their reality.
I hope you found this post beneficial and If you ready for your personal ‘Strengths journey’ contact me now through the contact form on my webpage. I can’t wait to connect with you.
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