Your strengths are in the things that appear simple to understand and carry out. These traits, abilities, talents, learned information, and transferable skills frequently take the form of behaviors or other characteristics.
Your areas of weakness are those things that seem challenging to learn and master. Mostly these are only areas of your life where you have had little exposure to, paid little attention to, or been somehow misled.
You often ask yourself how to effectively turn weaknesses into strengths. I will not paint a rosy picture for you because several steps and introspection are involved in this. Let us see today how you can be more aware and turn weakness into strength.
1. Determine your significant areas of improvements
Do you often think about your weakness? Do you spend a lot of time there? Ideally, it is not a sustainable habit. You see, there is a difference between being aware of your weakness and being stuck with it all your life. Once you are stuck with this narration - "I can't overcome this flaw, I have to live with this." Naturally, you will fall into a negative vortex.
No one is perfect, that is a fact. If you keep it in mind while you lead, you may detach yourself from a negative spiral and remind yourself that everyone is flawed. It is not only about leadership in organizations, but you will also be a better leader in your life. Remember knowing who you are and where you may improve is strength itself.
2. Outsource the tasks to a team
A few years ago, I developed this habit of "doing everything" all alone. As a result, I faced negative implications, which eventually affected my health.
You may be a founder or a CEO and have significant tasks to look after. You can't afford to indulge your mind in focusing on everything. You have to be specific, so you must delegate the charges to a team, remote or in-office.
Once you recognize the tasks you don't have the required skills for, you can easily hire and outsource them. Do you realize what you did? You accepted your weakness and showed your strength by delegating the tasks. This is also a sign of high performer that helps you transfrom your business.
Outsourcing is not just restricted to your business. When you start defining the roles in your life within your professional and personal relationships, it will maximize results and save time and energy.
3. Accept the feedback you receive
I have seen successful leaders asking questions themselves regularly. These questions help them to remind themselves of their goal, and it is a reminder for them to keep a tab on their values as well.
Before the day ends today, ask yourself these questions -
-
What are my strengths?
-
What do I love to do and value in my life?
-
What area of my life should I concentrate on right now?
While you ponder on these questions you'll see yourself from a positive lens if you are aware of your values and strengths. The change you want will eventually happen. You will be on a continuous upward trajectory of improvement if you combine all this with insightful criticism from a person you trust. Remind yourself that it will not be a satisfying answer whenever you seek feedback. Accept that if you are on the self-improvement journey, pay attention to your drawbacks and slowly work on them.
4. Partner with other people's strengths
I used to be a perfectionist. I will do it myself if nobody is willing to take on this task. That's what I believed. Of course, this is not true. Somebody out there already knows how to do a specific task. It is your rigidity and lack of trust that is stopping you from reaching out to that person.
Listen to this, when you are already struggling with your weakness and you need to complete an important task, the best thing you can do is to collaborate with someone who is doing it better. When you start networking effectively, you gain a purpose and move in the right direction.
Then, you'll make up for your shortcomings while also picking up tips from others' mistakes.
In your area of weakness, get a mentor. Learn from them. Watch them. Both of you work as a team.
5. Consider what motivates you
It would be best if you chose what motivates you in life in addition to your desires. What does it has to do with overcoming my weakness? You are observing your weakness so that you can assess yourself properly and do a good job, but the whole idea is to make you aware that you will have some flaws and drawbacks. The best way to overcome this is to shift your focus to your desires, motivations, and what keeps you driving daily.
Write down your responses to the question, "When do I feel energetic and driven?" Take into account instances in your life when you felt prepared to take on the world or motivated to advance to the next level. You are usually at your best when doing things that inspire and encourage you. Do you see how intelligently you shifted your mind to your strengths?
6. Think of the most struggling days you had
This activity is my favorite. It is effortless, and I need you to sit quietly in a room or a palace with no distractions. Let go of other thoughts in your mind and slowly think about the time when you felt stuck in challenges, where you didn't know if you would be able to sort it out or not. For example, you may have fallen into bad debt, what did you do in that situation -
Did you panic and keep blaming situations and people? OR did you check your other assets, and properties, take up an extra job, accept a loan from a relative and slowly pay off the debts?
If you did as the first point mentions, you were undoubtedly stuck with your weakness, but if you took the initiative like the second one, congratulations, you overcame your weakness at that moment itself. Asking someone for help and solving a crisis is not weakness, it is your acceptance and taking action to remedy that.
Assess your strengths and weaknesses
So far, we have been talking about how to effectively turn weaknesses into strengths. But don't forget that understanding your strengths and weaknesses is a reward. By doing this you can focus exclusively on the pursuits that bring you the most confidence and self-assurance. Concentrating only on the things you are naturally strong at can significantly lower your stress, anxiety, overload, and dissatisfaction levels.
Shellye is committed to helping people from diverse backgrounds to achieve their aspirations in careers and life. The content published above was made in collaboration with our members.
Shellye Archambeau is determined to help you with all possible strategies to climb the ladder of success. She values your feedback. Do mention them in the comment section below.