3 Steps To Use Your Strengths and Weaknesses To Improve Your Performance

by Silvia Pencak
(PO Box 39540, 579A Lakeshore Rd. E., Mississauga, Ontario L5G 4S6)

It doesn’t surprise me anymore to see people stepping into areas they are not good at. It’s pretty common to see a person who resists information and needs shortcuts to run a research project for a client. Or a person who prefers working with ideas might waste loads of time building a prototype to prove the point.
Here are couple important tips I want to share with you when it comes to strengths and weaknesses…

Step 1: Stop focusing on weaknesses
Focusing on weaknesses will set you on a downward spiral. It will lower your self-esteem, blur your vision, it might even get you focused in the wrong direction.

The truth is, you will never be perfect. You will always have weaknesses that will accompany you throughout your life. Should you completely forget about them? Absolutely not!

Understanding what your weaknesses are helps you plan ahead, hire the right team, because where you are weak, somebody else might excel.
One of the reasons why people are doing what they’re not good at is because they focus too much on their weaknesses.

Let’s say that Larry is a business owner and he resists the systems. His way of dealing with problems is to avoid them and create shortcuts. But as an entrepreneur his business can’t run without proper systems. Larry has a decision to make. He can either force himself to do what he’s not good at and create lots of stress in his business and life by focusing on this task, or he can hire somebody who will thrive in this area while he focuses on his unique expertise.

Both options will cost him. First one will cost him his time, energy and probably well-being. Second option will cost him money. The question remains – how valuable his time, energy and well-being are to Larry.

Today I challenge you to stop focusing on your weaknesses and shift your perspective. Accept the fact that you will never be perfect and step on the road toward your life purpose. All it takes is a decision.

Step 2: Understand your strengths
One of the side-effects of focusing on weaknesses is loss of perspective. Most of the time weaknesses will block your view and cause you to not see your real strengths.

Is it possible that who you are is totally fine and you don’t have to “fix” yourself to improve your performance? I strongly believe that the reason why you’re not seeing the results you want is not because you need to strengthen your weak spots, but because