Let’s talk about how to turn good into great.
Think about your greatest weakness…not morally, but professionally or scholastically. Got an answer? GREAT! Now, think about how much time you spend trying to become better at whatever mundane task that popped into your mind.
What if I told you that it is COMPLETELY OKAY to suck at whatever it is you struggle with? You hate writing or you’re not too good with grammar? That’s okay! Numbers make your head feel like it could explode at any moment? That’s okay too!! Let me bring some clarity to what I mean…
I recently read a book by British thought leader Marcus Buckingham. It’s called Go Put Your Strengths to Work. What captured my attention most with this study is his suggestion that we should not spend our time working on our weaknesses; rather we should spend time enhancing our strengths.
He says something to the effect of “Why spend time making your bad skills average, when you can make your good skills GREAT?”
Let me put it another way. Forcing yourself to “brush up” on skills that do not come naturally rather than pouring more time into your strong skills can almost be mentally tortuous.
Anyone who knows me knows that I always say “Work smarter, not harder.” In this book, that is EXACTLY what Buckingham urges us to do! If you’re intrigued, you might give Buckingham’s book a try. He’s also created a strengths test you can take to find out what your strongest areas are, if you don’t already know.
I encourage you to take his strengths test. It’s the first step to rewiring your thinking and investing your time where it matters: into building your strengths.