Finding Your Unique Strengths Contents Introduction on Unique

Finding Your Unique Strengths

Contents Introduction on Unique Strengths Your Unique Strengths and Talents Acting on your Unique Strengths Managing Weaknesses Building Self Esteem Gallup’s and Clifton’s Themes

Quote “Where your talents and the needs of the world collide, there lies your vocation” Aristotle

An Introduction All the human beings in the world have certain good qualities. To be a successful person we all should have more good qualities. We need to analyze more about the qualities which we have and how we are utilizing them. We need to capitalize on these strengths. According to a study, it was revealed that only 20% of their strengths are used in their day-to-day life. Most people (and companies) spend time naming weaknesses; their goal is to strive to be better, which means determining the ‘weakest’ points and working to turn those into strengths. Some proposed a unique approach, which is – focusing on enhancing people’s strengths rather than eliminating their weaknesses to become “better. ”

Discovering your strengths How to discover your strengths? The answer for the above question lies in knowing what strengths we have and how to enhance them. There are thousands of combinations in this concept and finding our strengths involves what position we have taken up in an organization or in a society. For instance, if you are a manager, apart from knowing your strengths, it is important to analyze your employees strengths so that you can create a strength-based organization. The company, or you as an individual, understand strengths that are present and capitalize on the traits. After learning your strength, you come to understand that what a strength means, among many things, that you want people to like you and you enjoy the challenge of meeting new people. There is no loss of words for you. after learning your strength is WOO (Winning Others Over), you come to understand that WOO as a strength means, among many things, that you want people to like you and you enjoy the challenge of meeting new people. Other strengths include developer, activator, communication. . . there are 34 positive personality themes in total. So, if you are a good analyzer of your strength and if you are highly regarded in the society, success follows

Our strengths Even though we all have strengths, we cannot just like that sit. Rather we need to further develop our strong points because it's a matter of using them or losing them. The power of commitment is very important because it is only that fire which makes ‘impossible’ possible. People do not lack strength; they lack commitment. And if you cultivate it, you will be laying a firm foundation for success. It is important to recognize our inner resources, for until we do, we will fail to use them. The sad fact is a strong person unaware of his strength is no more useful than a weak person. People do not lack strength; they lack commitment. And if you cultivate it, you will be laying a firm foundation for success. It is a sign of strength to be weak, to know it, and to manage it, but a sign of weakness to be unaware of our faults and mistakenly believe we are strong. Many people are unaware of their many strengths.

Strengths and talents Flip side of talent Our greatest strengths can be sometimes our weakness. Suppose, if we are planning well ahead on every occasion, it is our talent. But at the same time, when situations requires flexibility we might not respond easily. Similarly a person who is well versed in organizing may be lousy in maintaining accounts. Every talent has a value but not in all situation. One way to manage your talents is to ask individuals who are close to you these questions: "What do I do that bugs you? What do I sometimes do to excess? " Then flip their answer around and look for the positive side of this quality. When you walk into a room, do you see every problem and nit that needs to be fixed? Then you might have a talent for detail and problem solving. Do others tell you're a Pollyanna and your heads in the clouds? You might be an optimist. Choose the right time and place to use your talent strengths.

Valuable and top talents One of the talents which we have is the primary talent. If we do not have the primary talent then we lose the fire in our belly. The primary talent acts as a driving force in each of us. We can see this happen to the entrepreneur whose his or her company is sold. The person loses steam when they're not at the helm and taking risk. If there's no need for our primary talents or it's not valued, we lose our oomph for what we're doing. Our primary talent is the one that motivates us to use all the rest. We all have five to seven talents with us and how do we manage them or organize them brings us the success pattern. A success pattern is the unique way you mix and match your talents to achieve your goals. You may want to research a project before jumping into action. Whereas, a colleague might prefer to jump in feet first to figure things out. Respect these differences. The talents which we have are our assets and we have to start using them every day.

What’s your Genius? This has been Coaches and various consultants have used by professionals, entrepreneurs, used this for promoting their clients to the business owners, office workers, next level. An entrepreneurial mindset is laborers and even Fortune 500 CEO's critical in determining your day-to-day who are looking for a way to maximize direction towards your goals and dreams. their personal success with less frustration and effort.

What is Unique? What makes us different from our competitors through our strengths? Differentiation and unique strengths can be: People Product Process Knowledge Service Experience Organization Technology Reputation Application Training Logistics

Unique strengths and talents – how to identify yours? • What are your strengths? What are you good at? What are you passionate about? What skills, experience and knowledge do you have? Where is your energy? Find a professional and ask these questions and listen to them carefully • Identify resources you have: do some research and identify options. Be creative and have fun. Identify criteria and evaluate them against your options • What is your purpose? What do you want to achieve? Work toward focusing on that one thing that resonates with you and you will have better clarity • Describe your Vision: what is your direction of travel or plan to achieve your goal • Think about your option from other viewpoints. Talk to people, conduct research, be realistic and be open to thinking from other perspectives • Take the time and space to think; Find a thinking partner, someone who will listen and open your thinking up to numerous possibilities. As a result of your thinking, be sure to focus and take action. No action equals no results • Connect with your network and identify who may be able to assist you and finds your strengths and weaknesses and make you try to achieve your goal with your strengths • Take action and focus! Identify an action plan and targeting strategy; go ahead and just do it! Be active!

Unique strengths and talents – how to find your inner strength Be authentic Knowing yourself well enough to identify what it is you are good at, what you can do with it, what you actually want to do. If you are authentic about what you are searching for you will get it Be clear about your boundaries Know what you want and hat you do not want. What you want to negotiate and what not. Having clear boundaries will help you a lot in long run Talk to people One of most effective way doing things is to communicate and manage your connections. By talking openly and clearly about what you are after, those who you talk to will be able to offer help towards getting it Be genuine with connections When talking to people, learn about their interests and family and what they do. Do not just simply talk to increase your connections, instead keep in touch with great people who are interested in you and help you strengthen your goals

Unique strengths and talents – how to find your inner strength Identify what is important Be creative Learn about yourself Prioritize the different aspects e. g. working hours, location, type of office, type of role, flexibility, travel, work ethos and so on Think outside of the box. See what you can learn and do different activities to see if it inspires a different trail of thought. Restricting yourself in your routine, work and activities will limit your thinking and scope to finding what you are looking for The more you know about yourself, the more likely you will figure out what will make you happy. Ask your friends for their thoughts on you, your character, what they see you doing. Discover what your strengths and weaknesses are and how to harness them

Developing your unique strengths (1/2) Avoid comparison and approach people who inspire you Are there people in your life who wow or even intimidate you? Are you jealous of them? Go up and introduce yourself, allow yourself to be a part of their lives, and even offer to contribute to their milieu if you are so inclined. If they have a quality you are charged by, perhaps you have not given yourself permission to explore and develop those sides of yourself? Consider aligning yourself with people you feel competitive toward--it's a new world and we have much to learn from each other. Concentrate on strengths and not on weaknesses As a first step, find your strengths and weaknesses. There are several ways to discover your unique strengths, talents, abilities and ways of thinking by talking with each other. Self-understanding and self-support is key. Working on one’s weaknesses only brings misery and self-doubt. Concentrating on your strengths brings a better sense of fulfillment and forward progress. Eliminate your weaknesses by partnering with others Albert Einstein was initially a failure whose success came because of partnering. His wife ultimately helped him devise his famous equation. He came to success in roundabout ways. His wife kept her head on straight and together they accomplished greatness. That is the value of having a partner and team, varieties of perspectives, talents, and skills to get the job done.

Developing your unique strengths (2/2) Use failures as motivation Certain things will not go in favors of us always, even if we are in a team, no matter how well you are and your teams properly align with their goals. Sometimes, we need failures to reassess, revise and reset ourselves. If we are facing setbacks or if we are taking risks – it is a good going. Winston Churchill failed grandly more than once, and was famously cast to the political “wilderness” and then came roaring back to lead the British resistance. Steve Jobs was fired from the company he founded but through persistence ultimately came back to save it from extinction Leadership and success Innovation demands the work of flexible teams who cooperate and co-lead. The leader has to learn the best talent, skills , he and his team has. As a hierarchical leader, he should succeed in providing the tools to his team members. Even if there is any hurdle he has to motivate his team members, speak to them about their strengths and try to enhance their skills and make them expert.

Appreciate your unique strengths Talents are innate Everyone has talents and your talents are not the same as your jobs, education. We are all born with talents. You can see that some children like to play, dash around the house or climb trees etc. while some children prefer to sit and draw. We can change our jobs, positions or roles but our talents go with us always. You're already talented so here are some ideas to help you make the most of your talents. The work and activities you gravitate towards reveal your talents. To discover your talents simply ask yourself, "What do I enjoy doing? How do I like to spend my time? What is easy and effortless for me?

Acting on your unique strengths Identifying significant strengths Optimizing intention After identifying a list of strengths appearing in Many people leave decisions about life, careers your good experiences, take the next step to see and relationships to chance. We often hope that if they are significant strengths or not. For each things will just work out OK. Make decisions about strength, identify three distinct examples of your future a priority. Carve out the necessary experiences in which you strongly applied that time for these important decisions. There is much strength. It should be relatively easy to come up about your life, attitude and future which is within with three examples — if the strength you are your control. Be intentional. testing is truly a significant strength. Try to test 612 strengths. This is not necessarily easy, however. Genuine reflection is important. YOU CAN DO IT.

Acting on your unique strengths – a process of reflection The best place to look when identifying your significant strengths is to reflect upon good experiences throughout your life: not just happy memories, but good experiences in which you did things well, you enjoyed doing them, and you are proud of what you did. This can be considered as definition of a good experience. Next, consider these questions: • What is the good experience that first comes to mind? Write a paragraph about it and try to be as detailed as you can. • In a recent assignment, project, activity or work, which parts of it did you do best and enjoy most? Try for two or more examples. • What activities give you the most enjoyment when you are not at work/school? These could include hobbies, volunteer work, ventures, projects with the family or anything else. Try for two or more examples

Acting on your unique strengths – expanding the process As you get into the mindset, try to identify your top 10 good experiences. It does not matter when they occurred, but rather what you did to make the good experience happen and whethere were outcomes that you felt good about. These experiences can come from any part of your life: school, sports, employment, personal relationships, travel, etc. , from childhood to the present • The Situation • The Tasks you completed • The Actions you took • The Results you felt good about Try then to identify patterns of skills or talents which show up repeatedly in your top good experiences. Pay attention to the obvious and more keen connections

Acting on your unique strengths – bring it all together After identifying a list of strengths appearing in your good experiences, take the next step to see if they are significant strengths or not. For each strength, identify three distinct examples of experiences in which you strongly applied that strength. It should be relatively easy to come up with three examples — if the strength you are testing is truly a significant strength. Try to test 6 -12 strengths. This is not necessarily easy, however. Genuine reflection is important. You can do it

Learning to trust your instincts (1/2) When it comes to how to live your life on your own terms, we find an important point that is overlooked – Your intuition The life of many people have changed because of the silent mind voice which they have heard. Even we have been conditioned to ignore that voice and listen to only outside signal as our measurement of effectiveness to the actions we take in life. The voice in your head has been speaking to you every day. They are seen in the surface typically called as intuition. You must learn to listen to it effectively if you are going to reach your own level of genius performance Intuition is sub-conscious awareness. There are two relative terms reasoning and reacting. Reasoning is the result of logical, rational thought driven by the conscious mind. Reacting is the result of following the intuitive, subconscious mind Intuition is that sudden flash of insight that comes out of nowhere. It’s that sense you get or decision you make without really thinking about it; it just comes to you. In reality, it doesn’t come out of nowhere. It comes from everything your subconscious mind is aware of. Instead of dismissing intuition as an unfounded and irrational

Learning to trust your instincts (2/2) Of mammals, humans seem to be the only ones that actively discourage listening to intuition, but there is a lot of research that proves that intuition actually plays a larger role in decision-making than most conventional teaching would lead us to believe. • Research into the decision-making of consumers shows that as much as 95% of the decision to purchase something is subconscious • Research on fire fighters showed that 80% of their decisions were subconscious and intuitive rather than logical and rational • Research on naval commanders showed that 95% of their decisions were based on intuition and “gut” rather than actually analyzing and comparing options • Yet another study of commercial airline crews in 1991 found that more than 95% of their decisions were what was termed “snap judgments, ” which are those based on intuition, not rationale • In a study of offshore oilfield managers, one study showed similarly that 90% of their decisions were not of the conscious, rational type, rather they were snap judgments and intuitive