by MelanieRodriguez » Mon Jun 30, 2003 11:21 am
Hello everyone,
A few months ago, I also wondered about people's natural skills and talents. I discovered a book called Now, Discover your Strengths. It was written by the Gallup Organization.
I will not go into the details of the book, but the authors studied the behavior of 80,000 top achievers in the world and it explains that some people have natural talents, innate patterns of thought and behavior. That is the way your brain is wired. And that is what causes you to perform very well in certain roles and areas and poorly in others.
The book comes with an on-line assessment test, to help you discover which themes are stronger for you. The book explains in details why people are wired differently and how the brain works, but in simple easy to understand terms.
The whole theory of the book is that once the connections in your brain have been made, you can't really change them. So, if you are chronically disorganized, you will never become a super organizational freak. However, you can learn to do damage control and learn basic skills, so you can at least function, but it will never become a talent or a strength.
What the authors focus on is that you should instead work at developping your own natural strengths and only do damage control of the areas of "weaknesses". That is what the greatest achievers in the world do.
For example, if someone is totally disorganized, first, they learn enough about personal organization to function in the world, but they mostly, they focus on working AROUND that weakness. They will find jobs where organizational skills are not required, or they will delegate the organizational portion of their work to someone else, for whom it is a strength.
Organization happens to be one of my strengths and I made it part of my business. I help a lot of individuals to get organized, both in their personal and professional lives. I do what I do best, while they can focus on what THEY do best.
My top 5 strengths are Learning, Input, Competition, Intellection and Achiever. I need to learn and do research and organize, compile, ask questions and figure out the how and why, be able to measure my performance, either against others or against objectives - I need to see results and constantly achieve and reach objectives. I plough through work and the more items on my to-do list, the happier I get! I'm highly efficient and organized.
I have rebuilt my entire life and company around this Strengths concept. You wouldn't believe the changes! I am Soooo much happier and fulfilled! I now have focus and purpose in my life and I am not casting myself into roles that are not suitable for me anymore!
I sincerely hope this helps and will help more people to live a life centered around THEIR own strengths!
I also discovered that no strengths are better or worst than others. They are simply different and unique and need to be managed differently.
It has made me more accepting of myself and others.
It's great to hear from people of like-mind!