Are you using your strengths correctly?
Strength is deemed as the consistent near perfection of any performance of an activity that can lead to continuous high levels of achievement.
What that basically means is how you build on your strengths to identify your talent and amplify them by acquiring knowledge and gaining first-hand experience.
This blog post will help you move beyond just figuring out your strengths and more on understanding what your strengths are, developing them and knowing what amounts to use them and in what situations it serves you best.
How to figure out your strength
There are several interesting ways you can decipher your strengths. One is the Gallup StrengthsFinder which gives you a breakdown of your strengths across four key areas.
If you have a copy of my book, Love It or Leave It: How to be Happy at Work, you can also find a strength test on page 61. I gave a breakdown of about 20 strengths that you can apply to your working day.
Why it's important to know your strength
It will be beneficial to know what comes so easy for you. When you do tasks where you can draw on your strength, you can feel confident, engaged and can easily tap into your creativity. And if you know that your current work doesn't highlight your strength, you can have a relatable conversation with your manager about where you're finding things difficult on the job.
When there is a misalignment between your strength and your work, tasks can drag on. You may even feel more demotivated and then procrastinate, or you can get into a place of overdoing it and burning yourself out.
Are you underplaying or overplaying your strength?
Underplaying your strength can show up as a lack of confidence. This is due to not knowing what strengths you have or being uncertain how to apply them in situations in work and life. So it might be that you end up holding yourself back, dimming your light or procrastinating.
Perhaps you are somebody whose strength is relatability and compassion, and you don't feel like you can use it at work because you're going to be deemed too nice or too soft in a high-pressured or gritty environment.
The opposite of that is when you overuse your strengths. So maybe, your strength is being critical and honest. It's useful in some scenarios, but when you lean into it too hard at the wrong time, you can come across too abrupt.
Action steps
There's nothing more powerful than knowing when you are in flow and delivering at your best. When you're in flow, you lose track of time, and you encounter less friction while doing your work.
So figuring out your strengths is vital; here are some steps you can take to make sure you're using your strengths correctly.
Reflect on times you feel engaged and energised in your work.
As you go through your work challenges, meetings and conversations this week, I'd like you to really reflect on the times when you feel engaged and energised. Remember the exact thing you're doing and which strength you're using.
Take note of where you might be underplaying your strengths.
Think about what's happening as the result of you underplaying your strengths. Do you often find yourself procrastinating, lacking self-confidence, and hiding behind your strengths? Are you disengaging from different conversations and meetings for fear of being ridiculed or pigeonholed in a certain way?
At the opposite end of the spectrum, take note of where you think you might be overplaying certain strengths.
Where do you think that you are pushing people away? Or maybe you're just burning yourself out by overdoing it or pleasing people? How could you dial down that strength or talent?
If you need an outside perspective to help you figure out these action steps, you can ask a colleague or a friend for their opinion. The people close to you may notice when you're in flow and when you might be underplaying or overplaying your strengths.
When you have a clear grasp of when your strengths and energy flow, you can create more alignment in yourself and have less friction with your work.
Constantly procrastinating, being subpar with yourself or, on the other hand, burning out and pushing people away is both painful and lead to more unwanted stress and anxiety.
If creating unshakeable confidence and trust in yourself is a priority for you to align with your strengths, I invite you to join our LinkedIn Live on March 16th.
"Self-confidence is key to having the mental edge that helps you succeed"
To succeed in business today, whether as a leader, manager or business owner, knowing how to boost your self-confidence is paramount. In uncertain times. a lack of confidence may prevent you from connecting deeper with your teams, pursuing opportunities or taking strategic risks to grow. I’ll be sharing my top three insights to support your strengths building and confidence.
Join on LinkedIn here.