Strengths, Weaknesses & Fatal Flaws

There are a lot of talk and articles on a development and focus on strengths.

The strengths-based development approach focuses on developing strengths and mitigating weaknesses.

However, without clearly defining what we mean by strengths and weakness, it leaves many things ambiguous and may case some confusion.

Here is the dictionary definition of strengths and weakness:

(source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/strength)

strength
: the quality or state of being physically strong
: the ability to resist being moved or broken by a force
: the quality that allows someone to deal with problems in a determined and effective way 

Weakness
: the quality or state of being weak
: a quality or feature that prevents someone or something from being effective or useful
: something that you like so much that you are often unable to resist it  

I've come across some articles that says we should focus on strengths rather than weaknesses unless there are some fatal flaws which needs to be addressed first.  And some might adopt the George Constanza approach of fixing fatal flaws by simply doing the opposite.

But often times, trying to do the opposite of what you have always done is like trying to make a u-turn on the highway without first exiting and re-entering on the other side - you find everything else coming against you.  And that's assuming that you can in fact make that u-turn!

In the Strengths-Based approach, Strengths is defined as the ability to have consistent near-perfect performance at a particular task. This is achieved by developing our talents - our natural recurring way of thinking, feeling or behaving - and applying it to the task at hand.

When we understand what our talents are, what these talents contribute and need, we are then able to better identify the path-of-least-resistance in meeting our goals and objectives.  The first step is then to identify what our natural strengths are.  One way is to take the Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment which will give you your top 5 Talent Themes, the other is reflect on what you are passionate about, pick up easily, do well naturally, and get lost in when engaged in that activity.

Once we identify how we are naturally wired, we can then decide the best way to mitigate any weakness - strategic partnerships, systems & processes, and leveraging on your other strengths.

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” ― Carl R. Rogers

Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between 2 "wolves" inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity,truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Fundamental vs Technical

I'm referring to investments, just in case some of you are wondering.

Some of you may recall me writing about wanting to go into investments sometime back. Afterall, living from paycheck to paycheck doesn't really help you build your capital or help you with your retirement plans. Some of you are thinking... what? Planning for retirement already? I kid you not.... if I could, I'd retire tomorrow. :) Wouldn't you?

We need to look for ways to increase our pay, ways to build passive income, and ways to grow capital. So investments is really one of the ways to do so.

And by investments, I don't mean like just buy a stock or share because you think it might go up.... and its kind of an intuition thing.... that's how my mum trades. And no matter how much I nag her, she insists that she hadn't lost much, and had infact gained some. Strange thing is... most people only remember their wins and write off their losses. I wonder how much to believe her... haha

So how else to go into investing? There are two schools of thought. One is Fundamental Analysis, the other is Technical Analysis.

Fundamental Analysis
Fundamental analysis checks the health of a company to identify if the stock is a good one to hold. Generally, stocks with good P/E ratios (that's Price-to-Earning ratios) and good financial status...etc, tend to grow over long periods of time. At least 5-7 years I think... most recommend 20 yr timespan (See why planning for retirement starts now?? haha)

Most people will recommend a long term, 'lazy' investor approach. And use something called dollar cost averaging. Generally, with a good portfolio (this means good selection of stocks, indexes, mutual funds, bonds...etc for diversity as well), one can expect about 10% per annum returns over the long run.

Technical Analysis
Technical analysis is the subtle (or not so subtle?) art of reading charts. Basically, it identifies trends and rides on up and down trends to maximise returns (Something fundamentalist strongly disagree with). Personally, I think there's some truth in TA. So I'll give it a short.

I'm still pretty new to all these... but I'm going to test these things virtually on my virtualstockexchange account to see which is better. :)

Strengths and Weaknesses

I was reading one of the book summaries from BestSummaries.com and since I'm thinking of rotation right now, it does have some relevance to my thoughts at this point in time.

This is an executive summary of the book "Now, Discover your strengths" by Marcus Beckingham and Donald O. Clifton. And the following quote struck me in particular. Here it is below for your reading pleasure and reflection. :)

Are there any obstacles to building my strengths?

Yes. Apart from obstacles, if any, contributed by the current organization you are in, your own reluctance will keep you from building your strengths. This reluctance usually comes about from fear: fear of one’s weakness, fear of failure and fear of one’s true self. You must remember that working to improve your weaknesses only serves to prevent you from failing. It does not allow you to reach out towards excellence. Many people have taken what they thought were their strengths, polished them and find that they still failed. What you must understand is that learning about yourself through performance builds your strengths too. It is irresponsible to resist cultivating your strengths. Other people don’t realize their strengths because they’ve taken these aspects of their lives for granted. There is a constant need to investigate one’s self, lest the true value of one’s strengths be lost.

Our Deepest Fear

One of the A-Coaches was kind enough to encourage everyone with a note. On it was an inspirational poem by Marianne Williamson which had been used in a few movies, one of it being Coach Carter. I thought I'd share it here. :)

-------------

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves,

Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.

There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking

so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,

we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we’re liberated from our own fear,

our presence automatically liberates others.

--Marianne Williamson

Recommended Podcast

TEDTalks is an amazing video podcast. TED stands for Technology Entertainment Design, and many well known speakers present their ideas which are truly insightful.

For example, the author of the popular book "Blink!" also shared some of his ideas. I'm not able to do service to his ideas, so its best you take a look at the podcast if you like his book.

Today, I was watching the podcast by Dan Gilbert. Does he have any relation to the comic "Gilbert"? I have no idea. haha... but he talked about how horrible people are at predicting what will make us happy. There're a couple of other interesting ideas there too.

Take a look here.

Watching a Master Hypnotist in Action

I came across an hour long clip about milton erickson, one of the greatest hypotheraptist.

Some of you who are into NLP might like it. :)

Greatness Held Hostage

I've just come across free access to this CD programme by Mike Litman called "Greatness Held Hostage".

At this point of time, I'm not too sure of how good it is, but if you are interested you can take a look here.