Traces of Evidence of Talents Without even thinking

Traces of Evidence of Talents • Without even thinking, I automatically… • Passion or yearning. Ever since I can remember… • Rapid learning: Effortless. I just get it. • I’ve felt happiest when… • Exceptional performance • Compliments

From Talents to Strengths… Talent x Investment = Strength Choose one of your talents and brainstorm how you might invest in that talent this year. EXPLAIN your ideas with someone in the group.

Using Talents as a Graduate Student – Which of your talents do you think will be most crucial to success as a graduate student? – Pick one of your talents that you feel you’re not using to its full potential – what can you do to better use it in your studies? – Are there talents you have that might not get used in your work unless you make a conscious effort to use them?

Managing Weaknesses… • Types of Weaknesses: – Deficiencies – Something you don’t have much of or don’t do well – Over-Reliance - Too much of a “good thing” when you overrely on one particular strength – Our Weaknesses are most often our Strengths out of control Or perhaps more correctly, our Weaknesses are most often one of our Strengths IN CONTROL. . . when the situation calls for us to flexibly or adaptively use a different Strength

Managing Weaknesses… • Tips to Manage Weaknesses: –Deficiencies… • Make Small Improvements • Create Supports • Talent > Weakness • Find Others with Complimentary Talents –Over-Reliance… • Practice Flexibility Buckingham and Clifton, 2001

Theme Dynamics: Working at the Intersection of 2 Strengths X • Being the best where X intersects Y You X Y

Imagination is more important than knowledge. --Albert Einstein