How are you leveraging your Strengths?
As the fourth quarter gets underway, most of us are pooling our last energy reserves and gearing up for the final weeks. I have found a source of motivation in knowing and leveraging our strengths. It is very easy to focus on what we lack and our weaknesses.
In this blog post, I will share the three things I am doing to focus on reviving our strengths.
Remind yourself of your strengths
Knowing your strengths takes being intentional and making an effort. We are more likely to be ready to share our weaknesses than our strengths. One of the tools that has really helped me with my strengths has been the "The CliftonStrengths® Assessment (formerly Strengthsfinder 2.0)". I took the assessment as part of working with a Coach in 2016 when I was learning how to navigate living in the US. I learned about my top 5 strengths, and they resonated with me. It has helped me become more aware and have a better relationship with my strengths.
Questions to consider
What do you think are your top 3 strengths?
What do people around you think you are good at?
Check in to see if and how you are leveraging your strengths
Putting your strengths to use is an excellent way to contribute positively to the world around you. I once heard someone say that if you are not leveraging your strengths, you are holding back some of your greatness from your community. This past week, I asked my team at work which strengths they are leveraging today and which ones they hope to leverage. It was eye-opening to confirm their strengths and think about ways to create opportunities to activate those not sufficiently in use. The exercise of asking yourself the question will give you an actual status of where you are leveraging your strengths and where you are not.
Questions to consider
How are you leveraging your strengths today?
Which of your strengths are you not leveraging?
Make a plan to leverage your strengths
The great news is that we can shine by leveraging more of our strengths. I acknowledge that we only sometimes use all of our strengths in all areas of our lives. However, there might be strengths that you, if you leverage more, will give you the motivation boost you need. My top five strengths are learner, relator, focus, responsibility, and achiever. In the past year, I have leveraged my strengths of achiever, focus, and responsibility, which have helped me succeed. On the flip side, I have not had enough time to leverage my relator and learner strengths as much as I have in previous years. Over the next months, I plan to connect more with people and enjoy the energy it brings me.
Questions to consider
Which of your strengths that you are not leveraging at the moment would you like to use more?
What actions can you take to leverage your strengths that you have yet to leverage that much this year?
Final Thoughts
We all have strengths that our personal and professional communities can benefit from when we leverage them. I hope you are leveraging and developing your strengths.