Finding my Strengths

I want to write this blog post about how I found my strengths or, really, discovered my talents. I’ll explain the difference a bit later.

To start, a few years ago, when I was a senior in college, I acquired the StrengthsQuest book. If you’ve heard of StrengthsFinder, StrengthsQuest is the higher ed version of the program, intended for college students to assess their talents and, of course, find their strengths. If you’re not familiar with any of this, or even if you are, I’ll explain my understanding and experiences with the assessment.

Both StrengthsQuest and StrengthsFinder are owned by Gallup – the polling, data, analysis people who bring us all sorts of stats quoted in the evening news. Besides all that, Gallup is in the business of promoting and administering psychological assessments (who knew?)  As part of the purchase of one of their books, Gallup provides a one-time use ID code. When you buy one of the books, you are supposed to go online, enter your unique code, and take the “Clifton StrengthsFinder” assessment. The output is your Top 5  talent themes. This is where the difference between talent and strength comes into play. The Gallup people define talent as “a naturally recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied.” They further explain that all of us have a unique set of talents and that talents are involved every time we do something well. Each person’s talents helps him or her do well on a multitude of tasks. Going further, Gallup people describe strength as “the ability to provide consistent, near-perfect performance in a given activity.” Therefore, our talents identify what we are good at doing, naturally, and our strengths are the fruition of our talents being used at their highest potential.

What struck me as enlightening and part of why I’m a huge sucker for this StrengthsFinder assessment is the idea that our society focuses too much on our weaknesses, and alternatively we should focus on our strengths (or talents, whatevs). In school, if we have bad handwriting, we are told to practice. If we struggle in math, we are instructed to get help. Even if we’re not the athletic kid in the class, we have to try to beat our time in the mile. While I certainly don’t disagree with this guidance for children, at a certain point, you realize that there are some things you just aren’t as good at doing. Some tasks are harder for you than your peers. And it sucks. But StrengthsQuest (and maybe a bit of yoga) have told me it doesn’t have to suck. We can accept that we aren’t so good at some things, and instead we can embrace our talents. It’s really the most efficient way to act. Work to improve where you are most likely to succeed. This is how you become your best self.

After I bought into the whole idea of embracing my talents, I graduated from school and joined the ranks of many, in a cubicle in corporate America. I joined the corporate world through a development program for recent grads, and I thought (and hoped and prayed) I would continue to focus on becoming a better me. The idea was nice, but after two years I struggled. I was unhappy. I’m generally a positive person, and so I felt confused by my feelings.  I couldn’t shake the unhappy feelings. And then my program offered the StrengthsFinder assessment along with some workshops. Through the workshops and lots of contemplation and reflection on my own, I (re)discovered my talents.

I decided I needed a career change, and I applied to grad school to get me on that path. I’ve accepted a position in a program to start this fall, and I have given my work my notice. I’m looking forward to an enjoyable summer before I move for school.

While I believe StrengthsFinder provided me with tools to figure out my next steps, I think that the framework of thinking about improving your natural talents will help you find happiness. You don’t need to buy the book, but I encourage you take some action to think about what you like to do and what you are good at doing. Then, do it.

If you’ve already taken the next steps, I’d love to hear what you have to say too. I’ve still got a lot to learn.