Do you know your natural talents and strengths? Countless self-help books have been written on how to turn weaknesses into strengths, but is that really possible?
WizeFacts
There are three types of people when it comes to understanding and applying natural talents.
- Knowing your strengths is only the first step to success.
- Being in-denial about your strengths and weaknesses sometimes leads to attempting to change that which you are.
- Authenticity to your strengths allows you to achieve more, faster.
1. There are those who are simply ignorant of their natural strengths and weaknesses. However, ignorance doesn’t mean someone has a low intelligence level or IQ. It simply means “lack of knowledge or information.” These are people who have simply never been told they should learn about their personality, or never had the opportunity.
It’s not like it’s part of the basic curriculum at any school I’ve ever seen. As a society, we’re pretty ignorant about our personalities and what they mean to our lives and dreams. There is no intent behind this ignorance, but without this knowledge, this is the person who tirelessly attempts to apply all of those mindsets and methods, yet continues to wonder why they still aren’t reaching their goals.
“Worked for them… should work for me”
These are the people who try to copy someone else’s model and wonder why it didn’t work for them. In all likelihood, the person they learned from – or are trying to copy – has a very different set of natural talents. What worked wonderfully for them doesn’t always translate to people with drastically different talents and strengths.
2. Then, there are those who are in denial about their natural strengths and weaknesses. They aren’t ignorant, per se. They just choose to ignore what they’ve learned. They deny the fact of who they are and instead attempt to change that which they are.
Here too, there isn’t so much of an intentional effort to deny their natural talents. It’s more likely just the case that no one ever told them that they could change them.
These are the people who know they aren’t very detail-oriented, yet continue to let their success depend on them becoming an organizational expert. Or, they know they aren’t super outgoing, but they tell themselves they will eventually become comfortable at large networking events. They’re not naturally aggressive, but keep trying to push for the hard close. They may not have a great eye for design but insist on making all of the staging recommendations themselves.
3. Finally, there are those who are self-aware and authentic. They have achieved a very high level of understanding of their personality, who they are, what they are naturally good at – and what they naturally are not so great at.
Instead of trying to change it, they accept it
They have cured their ignorance, in other words. Then, though, instead of denying it and trying to change it, they accept it. They put all of their efforts into figuring out how to make the best practices they see around them fit their natural talents, not the other way around.
These are the people who know they suck at an organization, so they hire an administrative assistant before they do anything else. These are the realtors who understand they are a bit introverted and choose to use social media and Internet marketing as their primary networking tools. These people have mastered all three dimensions!
This is the person you must become in order to reach your full potential. How authentic do you think you are?
See How It Works