Strengths are a funny thing.  They become your superpower to navigating life.  They show you how resilient you are.  They safeguard you when danger is near and help you stand on a platform

Have you ever taken StrengthFinders?

When you go to the book or the website, it asks:

Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? 

Chances are, you don’t. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths. 

Using a unique access code that is included with each book, you complete an assessment and the updated version (which I have not had the privilege to do yet – but don’t worry, it’s coming.  I will have another post about it) will allow you to create an action planning guide to apply your strengths in the next week, month and year and 50 ideas for action that offer 10 strategies for building on each of your top five themes. 

What I love most about it is that although it identifies your top strengths so you can understand how they can be a strength, you can learn the weakness that occurs from that strength. 

For me, one of my strengths was “Achievement.” For some that seems like it is an awesome strength to have and in many ways it is but I realized after going through this exercise how much of a weakness it was for me.  Why?  Because I needed to achieve.  To not constantly be on the road to achieving in some fashion felt like I was stopped by an achievement flat tire.

Learning this strength shined a light on how it was also my weakness.  If I was moving, going, reading, listening to, engaging or stimulating in some fashion, I felt like I wasn’t doing enough in order to do more.

Raise your hand if you have ever felt like that?

It SUCKS!!!

This is when it got good.  I realized that I needed to alter my mindset to see that when I rest, when I binge watch a new series, take a breath, do something fun,  or just in general veg out, I am not hindering my achievement, I am fueling it.  I had to see rest AS an achievement.  

I had to see that this was a rejuvenation for me to work on goals and an integral part of the road towards them.

What makes this more ironic to me is the fact everywhere we look now it says, be better, do more, create balance, and yada yada yada on.  By virtue of this one life we get to live and have the absolute pleasure to have, we need to pause. 

Mute the soundbites and tune into yourself.  

This is your life.  

Use your strengths to elevate it.  Use your strengths to enrich it.  Use your strengths to DO.YOU. 

#CurateYourHappy

Have you done Strength Finders?  Have you done it more than once and seen changes in your strengths?  Share and let us know how you are using your strengths to #CurateYourHappy.  

Message me at @ChristianSoldIt and join us in the Facebook group to discuss your strengths! 💪