Are You
Maximizing What You Got?
by:
Beth Tabak
"People travel to wonder at
the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course
of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the
stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering."
What you’ve got + What you need = What you want .... Right? Well... maybe or maybe not. We often strive to fill that gap between what we’ve got and what we want focusing our attention on weaknesses. In fact, I often have suggested this strategy myself in coaching sessions. Yet recently I have been investigating another point of view. Are we spending so much time and energy trying to get up to speed where we are lacking that we miss the opportunity to leverage and maximize the strengths, talents, and resources that we already have?
Even our brain seems to develop
to our strengths and talents. In Now, Discover Your Strengths, a book based on
the
John Bruer describes in the book The Myth of the First Three Years, nature has developed three ways for you to learn as an adult. 1) Continue to strengthen your existing synaptic connections (as happens when you perfect a talent with relevant skills and knowledge), 2) keep losing more of your extraneous connections (as also happens when you focus on your talents and allow other connections to deteriorate), or 3) develop a few more synaptic connections (which expends the most energy). With regard to skills, the authors of Now, Discover Your Strengths suggest “If you learn a skill, it will help you get a little better, but it will not cover for a lack of talent. Instead, as you build your strengths, skills will actually prove most valuable when they are combined with genuine talent.”
So are you ready to get acquainted with your strengths? Here are a couple sources to help you with this:
The book Now, Discover Your Strengths mentioned above by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D. offers the www.StrengthsFinder.com Profile to anyone who invests in the book. This profile helps you to identify your Top 5 Strengths plus the book itself contains great information.You can find this book on my website or just about any book store.
The
You may be surprised by what shows up as your strengths even though it makes sense once you think about it. Life will begin to flow when you are using your strengths which is one reason why we don’t recognize them. To us our strengths seem like no big deal, or we think everyone thinks that way.
So I ask you:
Where are you wasting time on something that is not in the area of your top strengths and talents?
Are there tasks that can be delegated to someone who has the strength to do it exceptionally?
How can you set up your business and home so that the people involved are developing their strong points?
Does this mean you shouldn’t
bother learning a new skill? Not at all. But if the
new skill is in line with one of your strengths you will find it easier to
leverage and maximize that skill which is built on a strength.
Finally, how can you take what you’ve got and maximize it to make a positive
impact in your life and the life of others?
Starting Now!
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About The Author Copyright 2004 © Beth A. Tabak, All rights reserved. Beth Tabak
is a Business & Life Coach, columnist, & owner of Starting Now. She
coaches sole-preneurs & professionals to grow
their business without limits while creating the life they keep thinking
about. Home of the Business Unlimited Success Group, Leveraging the
Connection, free classes, resources, goals report, & more visit www.startingnowcoaching.com. |
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