Do you focus on fixing the things you're not very good at, while forgetting to develop your strengths? Stop!

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All these years... you've been taught to fix what your bad at. Are you focused on your weaknesses? Stop! Build on your strengths

Since you started primary school, you have probably been taught to focus on your weaknesses and learn to improve them. Later, in your job, your appraisal is about your mistakes and how you can improve. The focus is rarely on what you do best.

These quotes, comments and feedback are probably familiar to you:

• "How do I pull up my grades?"
• "Great work! Needs improvement"
• "Good project work. These are the areas you need to do better on"

Often what you do well is seen as normal status quo, but what you do poorly, you're expected to fix and do better. Why not just do more of what you do best?

The truth about Weaknesses

The thing about weaknesses is that everyone has them. Focusing on your deltas is negative and time consuming. 

New studies show that it takes much less energy to spend time on the things that you are naturally good and have interested in. Here are some examples for you, and some questions to our readers who have reached out - you know who you are. :-)

The Accountant

Why are you still learning how to network and give presentations, when you really love to work with numbers and focus on your administration files and excel overviews?

The Creative Director

Why are you wasting time adhering to your clean desk policy, and giving your time to everyone else when you thrive in a fun messy environment alone, and excel with all of your design tools at hand?

The Interior Designer & Garden Landscaper

Why are you worrying about administration when you are amazing at creating inspiring and functional spaces? One word: delegate!

Strengths as your Focus

Your strengths is where your power is! Not your weaknesses. If you want to be great at something, you need to work at it. Since your strengths come naturally, any energy that you focus there, will have a lot bigger impact, and get you results faster, than wasting all your time trying to "fix" yourself. Because you are not broken. You just have not realized where your potential is. Yet. The great news is, you can start now.

Want to discover your true potential? Read all about it in the book, Strength Finder 2.0

Balance is everything

In everything in life, I believe in what Japanese designers call "Wabisabi". Roughly translated - the balance in everything.

Life demands balance. So focus a little bit of time (20% of your time) on mitigating or improving your weaknesses and A LOT of your time, read: most of your time,(80% of your time) on finding and developing your strengths.

So the goal is...

Focus on your strengths and use only a little bit of your time to improve on areas you're less good at. We think a good ration is 80/20 for strengths vs. weaknesses. So:

Spend 80% of your time on STRENGTHS

Spend 20% of your time on WEAKNESSES

And above all, Do what you're good at! Do what you love! 

Homework

Now that you know what to do, here is your homework!

1. STRENGTHS Write down your strengths
2. WEAKNESSES Write down your weaknesses
3. Schedule development time for yourself! Both at work and home.
4. Divide your development time like this:

• 80% Strength area development
• 20% Weakness area development

Getting ready for a career move? 

Are you tired of your job and looking for some changes? Whether it's in the same company or a new one, learning about your strengths will help you, along with these other reads and tools:

Read all about it