Have you ever said the following about things at work or at home?
- Why did I think this was going to be easy?
- I suck at this! I don’t know why Kirsten is making me do it.
- Every time I start on this, I just get lost.
- I wish I was like Amanda; she just breezes through this stuff.
Are there other times when you said the following about completely different things?
- Wow, I’m getting the hang of this.
- I just crushed that meeting – it was amazing!
- I don’t know why I do it so well; it just comes naturally to me.
- Sure I’d love to do that – I’m great at it!
The Concept
No, this is not some mind-blowing bizarre parallel universe. In fact, I can speak from personal experience. I have said these exact sentences in every past job I have ever had. Here’s an Idea – what if you focused on developing your strengths instead of developing your weaknesses. Most of us would say, “well yeah, Chris; that makes complete sense. Why would I ever devote any energy to developing a weakness? That sounds like a waste of time.”
Marcus Buckingham unlocked the secrets of the universe for me around this subject when he wrote the books, Now Discover Your Strengths, Go Put Your Strengths To Work and recently The Truth About You; Find Your Strongest Life. These books radically changed the way I manage projects, the way I lead people, and even how I live my life outside of work. In a nutshell, Buckingham teaches you to figure out and identify your natural strengths, and then to focus your time and energy on developing those strengths. He also points out a huge irony – it’s not what most of us do out there in the real world; we do the complete opposite. We get into the habit of focusing on our weaknesses.
The Analogy
I learned from a very early age that I was good at some things (science) and I was terrible at other things (Spanish). And where did I spend most of my time, staying after school to ask the teacher for guidance, getting tutors to boost my scores, and taking pop quizzes from my parents after dinner? Science right?… NO! it was Spanish. That’s right, Spanish. What I mean to say is, I devoted most of my time studying and practicing on Spanish for three years so I could barely squeak by with a C- in the class.
I can’t turn back the clock, and I think it helps to round out a young person to learn a second language. However, what if I had spent all of that extra time developing my skills and talents in the sciences? I could have a very different life. Maybe I could have become a meteorologist, a professor of Theoretical Quantum Mechanics, or maybe – just maybe – I could have earned a Nobel Prize in Genetics – who knows?! My point is, perhaps we should apply the 80/20 rule which states that we should spend 80% of our time on the things that make us productive and successful, and only 20% on the things that do not. Let’s take it one more step. Imagine now, as an adult: what if you spent 80% of your time training, developing, nurturing, and eventually mastering your natural talents and gifts? How would that impact your career? How about your life?
Regarding your career in particular, there may be areas in your career where you are deficient. You might not even enjoy tasks that pertain to these areas. Keep in mind, these same areas may also be critical functions of your job and you may need to develop a base line competency in them in order to keep your job. However, you may also be in a position to delegate this aspect of your job or find an opportunity to partner with another person that has a strength you don’t possess. Once you have achieved competency in these areas or taken them off your plate, consider how shifting your focus to your strengths may affect the trajectory of your career, your life and your happiness. What would it look like if you could shift 80, 90 or even 100% of your focus to the areas where you truly have some talent?! Kind of cool when you think of it that way, huh?
Next week I will share with you some exercises and ideas on how you can explore your strengths at work and get more success out of your career and your life. I hope this got the brain juices flowing. I would love to hear your comments!
