What are you best at?
Have you done the Gallup Strengths Test yet? Its now a tiny bit dated, really coming out back in 2001 with Strengths Finder 2.0 coming out in 2007. My wife discovered it and brought it to our church back in 2009; since then, the influence of the idea from Gallup has grown. This past year, professors at my school, Valencia College, decided that the strengths test would be a crucial part of a new freshman seminar we have built for all incoming students.
One of the authors of StrengthsQuest explains why the research here is so powerful. It focuses on your strengths, not your weaknesses. He shares how he finally figured out that most education focus relative to student success focuses on what he calls “deficit-based, remediation programming” that attempts to fix the weaknesses of others. This, he claims (and I agree) ends up sending many students AWAY from higher education demoralized and disillusioned.
In other words, with a focus on their weaknesses, trying to make them stronger, only plays into the reality that as weaknesses, the student really cannot do well in that areas that are designed to make them stronger.
Let me say it another way. NO ONE IS STRONG IN EVERYTHING.
One of the great sad, ruinous myths that have been perpetrated regarding College is that somehow, supposedly every student should be able to pass almost every type of class they confront. And, the myth persists, if you don’t take all of those classes, you will obviously not be successful in your future. Well, as someone who took no math classes in College, I am living proof that such a myth is wrong.
What does that have to do with you and this email? Want to Live Well? Focus on your strengths. What are you best at? Do that, be happy and never look back!
In fact, I would offer that this pursuit of what you are happy and good at is one of the deepest lifelong pursuits. Not only does the pursuit take your whole life, but as you age and mature, what you are good at and what you enjoy will morph. And that is a good thing, though potentially scary. It should, though, be embraced so that at 50, if you start to really enjoy opera and want to start writing an online blog about opera, you should go for it! Or, maybe at 60, you want to start learning how to design gardens, and in the process are going to start a new business designing gardens for others, including helping them grow the beauty in their yard. Do it!
If you are in your college days, I urge you to look past questions that only deal with money, such as what kind of income can such and such career bring you. IF you pursue money in an arena that does not use your strengths, in a field that doesn’t interest you, I can promise you that while you may find the cash, you will be miserable later in life.
If you are someone who is post-college, start today becoming an expert in you. It’s too late to go and change majors; you probably already have a job. But you are not stuck there! Go take the strengths test if you aren’t sure where you are best. Or, perhaps you know already areas that are in your wheelhouse. Pursue that! Maybe it will mean going back to school for some classes—many businesses will support you in that, even if the classes aren’t technically for that work. And, there are many ways including Lynda.com or Youtube.com where you could find teaching and information that you can learn on your own time.
Don’t get stuck thinking you are stuck. Go pursue and do things that make you happy. Now, note…what makes you happy may not be financially sustainable, or may only bring in a little money. Don’t buy the other myth that someone suggests if you do the thing that makes you happy it will equally make you millions. Often it won’t. You may need to keep your regular job. Or you may have to accept a less ostentatious lifestyle. However, you still aren’t stuck.
What are you best at? Where are your strengths? Go do those things!