Why you should know your strengths

I will give an example with a boring job. Let's say the accounting department printed thousands of report sheets. They need to be packed in a uniform style, marked with dates and types of documents. This will make it easy to find documents in the future.

You can gather employees and tell the rules of design, but you are not strong in speeches. Leadership is not your strong point. You show yourself better in creativity and humor. So you create cards with funny design instructions and distribute them to employees. Creativity attracts attention, and humor keeps attention. I'll tell you a secret: it's easier to sway people to your side if you make them laugh.

If you don't know your strengths, you can't ask yourself, “Where can I use my strengths? How to use humor and creativity?" Knowing your strengths allows you to analyze how to do the work easier and faster. You will be able to find out in which areas you are underutilizing your strengths and increase your productivity.

Another strength is that we have been doing it for many years, and not only know how. People usually do something for years because the result of the work brings benefits and corresponds to values. Rarely is goodwill reciprocated. The example below reveals how this can lead to the life we've always wanted.

In the ninth grade, I chose where to study. I wanted to become a designer, but my parents insisted on the oil field. Then everyone told me the same thing: "Listen to your parents, because they have life experience." This gave the impression that I was inexperienced and wrong in my design choices. The experience of my parents was on the side of the oil woman, it put pressure on me and made me feel insecure in my judgments. But I could not stand the oil field and did not want to waste my life on it.

One evening I angrily began to analyze what it is - the "parental experience" that is pressing so hard on me? I have come to the conclusion that this notion is meaningless. Adults are grown-up children who have different experiences and analyze them differently. For example, someone does not know about typical thinking errors and comes to the wrong conclusion, and someone's experience is outdated. Therefore, some will advise one thing, others - another. Among them are those who have been advising people in choosing a profession for 20 years, and even they make mistakes. What then to say about my environment? It was a liberating thought.

Since then, I have been freed from many myths and felt relief. Liberation pushed me to think critically. I liked that I didn't waste my life, resources and money on myths. Over time, critical thinking became a part of the personality and a strong point.

I try to think critically because it brings me what I want. This is not a question of money. Also, the artist's strong point is a sense of aesthetics. He expresses them in his works because he satisfies aesthetic needs. A strong point is the desire to help others. Such a person can happily work in a dog shelter. This is how strengths arise and develop.

Strengths became strong because they were needed to get what they wanted. The opposite is rarely the case. Using them means doing what we want. This is precisely where the secret lies: if you do what you want, then you live as you want. It makes you happier.

You do quality work when you use your strengths. You see the result of your work and feel your competence, which increases your self-esteem. You accept yourself more, so you feel "good enough".

Through work, you also demonstrate your abilities and maybe even inspire someone. Colleagues respect you for your skills, and friends and acquaintances give you compliments. You feel welcomed into the company.

Thus, you get pleasure from the result of work and live as you want when you use your strengths. This allows you to practice your strengths over and over again. A "perpetual engine" is created: you develop strengths because you become happier, and vice versa. This is how you can reach the heights in your field.

Using even one strong point makes a person happier. However, the peak of happiness is reached when a person uses 4 strengths [2]. A vet with kindness, critical thinking, and a love of learning can get more out of their strengths. On the one hand, learning and critical thinking will make him an exceptional specialist, and on the other hand, his kindness to animals motivates him to move on and be kind to animals. Perhaps he will be richer. At least I would trust him with my pets.
Consider working with a coach. A coach will help you find strengths and new ways to apply them. You can read more about coaching in the article What is coaching and how can it help?
Do what you love more often. Hobbies and passions are examples of what we like and where we develop.
Practice strengths in case. Send a thank you note to someone important to you if gratitude is your forte. Or maybe kindness is your forte. Then you can help an elderly neighbor with groceries.

Keep a diary. At the end of the day, remember a time when you felt proud, happy, or deeply conscious. Then ask yourself two questions: