Guide to Personal Growth

Know Your Strengths and How to Leverage Them

This is a key to so much in life.  We’re all good at something.

But not everything we’re good at is good for us.   Think about that carefully.

  • Do people keep asking you to do things you don’t find energizing, simply because you can do them well?  These are apparently “strengths” of yours, but they feel more like traps you keep falling into.  It can be hard to say “no” when people compliment you for your skill at things that drains you.
  • Or look at the other side of the coin.  Do you keep trying to get better at something you don’t do well and really hate to do?  Instead of finding a creative way to get it done by someone else. for example?

What a waste of good energy if you fall into either camp!

I made both mistakes for a long time…until I started thinking differently.

How did I make the leap?  I started looking for personal assessments that would give me different perspectives on myself.

I searched out assessments that would tell me things I didn’t already know.

I found some excellent strengths assessments I still usse to help clients break new ground in the way they look at themselves.

  • THINK BEFORE YOU LEAP, THEN LEAP!

The most powerful one I have found–so valuable that I spent 2 years studying to become certified in it–offers insight into your unconscious thinking patterns, which strongly influence your decisions and action in ways you aren’t aware of.   There are targeted assessments to help you attain your goals more easily in life, in business, in your career, in health, and more.  When you take one or more of these online assessments (they each take about 20 minutes to do), I debrief the results with you and help you decide on next steps.

There is a fee for each assessment and a fee for the debriefing.  Contact me at coachingwithwit@gmail.com to find out more.

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I also want to direct you to other worthwhile assessments I like.

  • THE VIA SURVEY OF CHARACTER STRENGTHS

The VIA is a 240-question online survey covering 24 fundamental character strengths said to be applicable to almost every known culture.  By taking the VIA you are contributing to a long term international research project out of the University of Michigan.  You immediately get a computerized report showing your top strengths, with an  explanation of their meaning.

Go to http://www.authentichappiness.com and look for the VIA Survey.  There are other useful assessments you can try at that site as well.   The VIA and all other assessments there are free.

 

  • REALISE2:  REALISE YOUR STRENGTHS

The Realise2 assessment is also taken online. Like the VA, it asks you to decide how much you agree or disagree with different statements.  This will uncover the strengths you already use as well as potential strengths, weaknesses, and learned behaviors (things you may be good at but which drain you).  It’s useful for both individuals and for teams in organizations, where it helps group members recognize the strengths each of them brings to a team.  You get an immediate and rather colorful report with suggestions for action based on the total picture.

This can be taken by going to http://www.cappeu.com. It costs about $25 American dollars, part of the fee going to international charities.

 

  • STAND OUT

This new assessment, from Marcus Buckingham of Discover Your Strengths offers a whole different kind of approach by setting up scenarios and asking you to choose from 4 possible ways to respond to them.  You are timed so that you don’t over-think your answers.  This is interesting because you have to react quickly to unexpected situations.  The results may surprise you. Your top 2 strengths are immediately sent to you, with a substantial report.

Go to Stand Out to take it. The cost is $15.00.

Where to start?  I’d recommend taking the VIA first.  But don’t stop there.  Learn as much as you can about yourself.

Think of yourself as a fine musical instrument whose performance will benefit from study, practice, skill development, and deep insight into your particular gifts.