Most people are taught to work on their weaknesses — to fix them. But focusing on weaknesses can lead to feeling bad, nervous or tentative. Research shows that if you instead lean into your natural strengths to navigate challenges, you’ll be working from a place of positivity. You can achieve the highest levels of success when you stop trying to be a little bit good at everything and instead hone what you are naturally best at.
In other words: the key to maximizing your abilities is to let go of who you’re not, and focus on who you are. Focus on what is strong, not on what is wrong.
Benefits of knowing your strengths. Being able to articulate your strengths can help you identify ways to navigate challenges, make difficult tasks more manageable, develop your personal brand, offer your talents in group work, and tell stories about your successes in behavioral-based interviews.
Identifying your strengths. When you think back on recent courses or activities, when did you feel most engaged or energized? What skills/personal qualities did you draw on to help you succeed? Chances are you may take your natural strengths for granted, and sometimes it helps to get outside perspective. What have friends, instructors, family or colleagues complimented you on?
CliftonStrengths distills strengths into 34 themes.
- Which 4-5 sound MOST like you?
- How can your strengths help you in your career discovery process?
- How can they be an asset you can offer in a professional setting?
Achiever – one with a constant drive for accomplishing tasks
Activator – one who acts to start things in motion
Adaptability – one who is especially adept at accommodating to changes in direction/plan
Analytical – one who requires data and/or proof to make sense of their circumstances
Arranger – one who enjoys orchestrating many tasks and variables to a successful outcome
Belief – one who strives to find some ultimate meaning behind everything they do
Command – one who steps up to positions of leadership without fear of confrontation
Communication – one who uses words to inspire action and education
Competition – one who thrives on comparison and competition to be successful
Connectedness – one who seeks to unite others through commonality
Consistency – one who believes in treating everyone the same to avoid unfair advantage
Context – one who is able to use the past to make better decisions in the present
Deliberative – one who proceeds with caution, always having, and knowing the details, of a plan
Developer – one who sees the untapped potential in others
Discipline – one who seeks to make sense of the world by imposition of order
Empathy – one who is especially in tune with the emotions of others
Focus – one who requires a clear sense of direction to be successful
Futuristic – one who has a keen sense of using an eye towards the future to drive today’s success
Harmony – one who seeks to avoid conflict and achieve success through consensus
Ideation – one who is adept at seeing underlying concepts that unite disparate ideas
Includer – one who instinctively works to include everyone
Individualization – one who draws upon the uniqueness of individuals to create successful teams
Input – one who is constantly collecting information or objects for future use
Intellection – one who enjoys thinking…who can compress complex concepts into simplified models
Learner – one who must constantly be challenged and learning new things to feel successful
Maximizer – one who seeks to take people and projects from great to excellent
Positivity – one who has a knack for bring the light-side to any situation
Relator – one who is most comfortable with fewer, deeper relationships
Responsibility – one who, inexplicably, must follow through on commitments
Restorative – one who thrives on solving difficult problems
Self-Assurance – one who stays true to their beliefs, judgments and is confident of his/her ability
Significance – one who seeks to be seen as significant by others
Strategic – one who is able to see a clear direction through the complexity of a situation
WOO (Winning Others Over) – one who is able to easily persuade