ajcjobs > BlogBreak > Archives > 2007 > October > 19
Friday, October 19, 2007
Weighing your strengths & weaknesses
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s the dreaded interview question: “Tell me about your weaknesses.” No one wants to admit that they have a tendency to forget things, or that they have a bad temper. So, most of the time people choose a benign weakness and talk about how they’ve worked hard to overcome it.
However, how many of us, if we’re completely honest with ourselves, really work that hard to overcome our weaknesses? I would bet that a large majority of us focus very little on our weaknesses.
Ironically, this lack of focus can actually be an effective way of improving ourselves and increasing our effectiveness on the job.
A famous example of this involves pro golfer, Tiger Woods. He has said that one of his weaknesses is shooting the ball out of sand traps. His strengths include his precise swing and his ability to driving the ball long distances. As he works toward improving his game, Tiger directs his energy toward improving his accuracy and focuses on driving the ball straighter. By doing this, he avoids the sand traps altogether.
If you’re great at organization, but you tend to take on too many projects, think about how you can focus on your organizational skills to accomplish every day tasks. By developing this strength, you can increase your odds for success by planning time for each project and setting realistic goals for yourself.
While it’s important to be aware of our blind spots, we tend to have more energy for those things at which we excel. By harnessing this energy and passion for our strengths, we positively reinforce our good habits and keep ourselves from falling into life’s sand traps in the first place.
How have you used your strengths to succeed?
