Have you ever compared yourself with your peers or someone you look up to and felt inadequate?
I know I do – I remember back in high school, I would spend countless hours on a ‘creative writing’ essay, constant editing, rewriting and proofreading only to have my teacher commented that I have not put enough time and effort. Whereas, my colleague would only spend a few hours and come up with a masterpiece worthy of Pulitzer Prize.
In my opinion, I believe the traditional education system fails in this regard because the curriculum is one dimensional and does not recognise and tailor students’ strengths and weaknesses as well as learning styles.
In my later years in business, I have found that we all have strengths and weaknesses and the key is to unlocking your superpowers and true potential for success is to identify them so you can better understand yourself.
By leveraging your strengths, you make better use of your time, feel more satisfied and achieve greater success. With your weaknesses, you can work on them on a lesser degree so that it does not hinder your overall development or delegate/ partner with someone where your weaknesses are there strength.
For example, if I made it my life goal to become the next J K Rowling with ‘Creative Writing’ – I know with 100% certainty, it would be lead to great frustrations and failures simply because it does not align with my strengths.
Clifton Strength Finder
One of the best ways to discover your strengths is with the Gallup CliftonStrength Finder. It is an online test with a series of questions which takes about 45-60 mins to complete.
Here are my five key strengths:
- Competition
- Focus
- Futuristic
- Strategic
- Achiever
(More to come….)