Find Your Strengths & Focus on Them

Toss aside your weakness, concentrating on them will only bring you down, instead focus on your strengths.

I once read somewhere that Thomas Jefferson was not a very good public speaker, In fact, he hated it so much and was so bad at it that he wrote his state of the Union addresses but had them delivered by one of his staff.

Would Thomas Jefferson have been a better leader or a more effective president if he would have worked on his public speaking weakness or should he have continued focusing on what he did best and worked to perfect that?  Many might disagree, but I'd vote for the latter.

We all have innate talents and abilities but they often go unnoticed or diminish because we tend to focus on our weaknesses; striving to eliminate weakness instead of working to perfect our talents.

Why is that?

It's probably because from a very early age our weaknesses are highlighted.  It's wonderful that we have talents but for some odd reason our shortcomings take center stage.

We do ourselves a huge disservice by doing such things. Focusing on our weaknesses reduces our ability to excel and do great things with our talents.  For many the talent moves into the background and before you know it they become stale.

Granted there are always things that we must work on in our lives to continue to keep ahead of the crowd but we should not let it take away from the things we do best. Our weaknesses are often things that we don't like or don't have an aptitude for. If this is the case I say let it go, focus on your strengths.  Of course, if it's a weakness that you want to excel at, go for it, but don't let it take away from what you are truly good at and enjoy.

Corporate America is a great example of how we help people abandon their strengths.  We continue to create inept employees by incorporating the practice of promoting them to their level of incapacity.  In order to excel in your career most companies require employees to leave their expertise, or what they are good at, and force them into management or some other administrative capacity that pays a higher salary but may not suit them. 

If an employee has an expertise, why not let them continue to excel in that skill and let the people that are well suited for management do the management job. This is not to say that many skilled workers don't excel in management, however we all know that many do not. 

It's a far better idea to me if we promote our workers in what they do best than require them to switch gears and promote them into something they may or may not do well in.

This concept becomes especially important particularly if you are starting your own business.  I often see people become afraid to start a business because they place their skills and talents at the bottom of the list and put priority on what their weaknesses are. 

For example, let's say you are a talented jewelry maker but a terrible salesman, this may seem like a huge flaw, after all, sales are very important, however don't become sidetracked by trying to become a great salesman, instead find people that can help you make sales, find an alternative. Stay focused on your talent and let those better suited in their expertise to help you out.

Be careful not to talk yourself out of doing something because of a skill or expertise you don't have. Keep your focus on your strengths, your talents and your abilities.  Rid yourself of the negative, it's wasted, unproductive energy. Stay positive.  Maintain a 'can do' attitude and the rest will take care of itself. 

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