As we grow up, and we want to improve ourselves, we look at who we are and what our weaknesses are. We tend to focus on that and try to improve those. However, in most cases, we are already strong enough to overcome any obstacle by working on improving what is already strong. It is easier and more fun to become better at something you are already good at doing. If you wake up in the morning dreading what your weaknesses are and working on improving that, you tend to not work as hard. If you wake up in the morning and know you are already good at something and you just want to get better, you tend to do it with more enthusiasm.
Recently, a client of mine realized she had strength for meeting one-on-one, in person. She felt a weakness was her phone calling conversations. She said that she was working on getting better at feeling comfortable talking on the phone. I suggested she work on getting in front of more people face to face, have many appointments at one location like a coffee house. She arranged all the appointments via email (Sending the same email to multiple people, but with different time choices.) She found she closed more sales and really enjoyed herself more.
It is ok to recognize any weaknesses and team up with others who have that as strength. Then you are bringing out the best in others. You usually end up helping them out as well, because their weaknesses are usually your strengths. I asked that same client to find part-time help to make those necessary calls she needed. She wrote what was needed to be said, and hired a person whose strength is talking on the phone. This also helped increase her business, which paid for the part-timer and more!
When I give presentations, I always ask who in the audience "Who writes down their goals?" I usually get most of the room enthusiastically raising their hands. They know that everyone who is successful writes their goals. They have heard all the experts say that even if the just write their goals, they are more likely to happen, then if you just think them.
Then I ask "Have you ever written down your Strengths?" Most of the hands go down. The people who have their hands still up have: done this exercise before, or just finished preparing their resume, or just want to look good. Either way I get excited to see them work through this exercise. Most people find they write something surprising and others write down what they already know about themselves. It is exciting to see positive words describing yourself written in print.
Do this exercise. Write down everything you can think of you are good at doing. The next article will talk about Building Your Strengths.
Tom Gosche, The Business Strategist, 630-675-8971, http://www.thebizstrategist.com/
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