Strengths – how to make the most out of it!

We all have strengths. If you feel very low, you might feel like you have no strengths, that you do all wrong, you might feel powerless, unhappy, and so on. We could go on forever, our inner critics love nothing more!

However, as I was saying, we all have strengths. They are the positive part of your personality, the ones that make you feel good, engaged, close to your best self! So, what is the problem? The problem is apparently simple. While we all have strengths, we don’t always use them. Why? There can be many reasons why we don’t use our strengths can vary, what is important is to decide to change that!

And why should we do it? If what I already said about feeling good and engaged did not convince you, well let me tell you more about it.

According to Positive Psychology, actively identifying your innate strengths and using them daily or more profoundly can profoundly affect how you experience life and your well-being. 

Just identifying your strengths and consciously using them over a week is associated with higher levels of happiness and lower rates of depression.

Strengths like bravery, kindness, and humor, often have been associated with quicker recovery from illness (if you want to read the research about it, investigate Seligman work).

How to find your strength.

Now that we understand the why, let’s look at the “how”. You could start a deep journey in your inner and deeper being. However, there is a very quick and practical way to do it, and once again, we have Seligman and his team to thank.

Just take a free test on the https://www.viacharacter.org/ website and all the 24-characther strengths will be put in order of predominance for you. The reason why I suggest the test instead of just making a self-assessment, is because I firsthand experienced doing the test and have strengths in my top 5 that I did not recognize in myself just because for some reason I did not use myself! So do the test and maybe you will have some surprising results too.

 

What now…

Now look at your list. How does it feel? Can you see those strengths in yourself? Any surprises? If you see something you did not expect, why do you think it’s the case? How much of these strengths are you currently using?

After a bit of self-reflection, let’s now move into a more action focused and future oriented phase.

How can you use these strengths more every day?

How do you think you can use these strengths to achieve your goals?

But balance as you know is everything, so it is good to keep an eye out for the times we use too much of our strength or we don’t balance it enough with a paradoxical trait.

Example:

If I overuse my Critical Thinking strength, I am going to be over critical, that will slow my progress down and ruin relationships with others. But why do I do that? It is good to stop and think if maybe in that moment my overuse of Critical Thinking is a cry for more Gentleness and Self-Compassion.

Another example can be Frankness. It’s a strength to be able to be open and direct, however, too much of it and we are now plainly blunt and while the message will be received very clearly, this will not help us in our relationship and people my start avoiding us because we are perceived as rude. In this case, a good dose of Diplomacy can allow us to be just as clear and open about our opinion, but the delivery of the message will not create that resentment.

Conclusions

So just to recap, identify and use our strengths more often or more profoundly has beneficial effect on how we experience life, on our health and can help us reach our goals.

There are several ways to find out what your strengths are, one of the easiest and most effective is the free VIA assessment online.

Once you have your strengths identified, give a good thought about it. How much of it can you see in yourself.

Now time for action! What can you do to make sure you include your strengths in your everyday life and how can they help you achieve your goals?

Keep an eye on the balance! Don’t overuse your strengths or they might hinder you.

What to discuss more about this topic? Send me an email at consiglia.sorge@outlook.com or book a slot that works for you in my calendar at the following link: https://calendly.com/consiglia-sorge

Consiglia Sorge

Coaching & Training