Improving Your Weaknesses Is A Waste Of Energy, Play To Your Strengths
Let’s put it straight: you can never get great at things in which you are bad.
We are a nation obsessed with overcoming our weaknesses (and generally focusing on the negative). How many frustrated people!? How much wasted energy!?
I remember how disappointed I felt creating spreadsheets in my first role. No matter how much I tried to improve my skills, I was still bad. Yes, I got marginally better at all those techy things. But, I was still really bad and putting in all that effort for so little gain made me extremely cranky.
And worse, I wasn’t having any fun. Spending every day being reminded of what you are awful at is enough to make anyone depressed.
You could become mediocre when you spend your energy improving your weaknesses, but focusing on strengths only can take people to excellence.
Millennials and Gen Z are less inclined than previous generations to stick to a career path or role they don’t feel suited for. They often seek roles that align with their strengths, leading to better work-life balance and job satisfaction. Wasting time on something that doesn’t come naturally doesn’t appeal to them.
Gen Z are even less interested than Millennials in fixing their weaknesses. Many in Gen Z believe they can succeed by outsourcing or finding workarounds for weaknesses. This is partly because they’ve seen digital entrepreneurs and content creators succeed by honing a few key skills rather than following traditional career paths.
Having done some quick Internet research on this topic, it seems that if companies played to peoples’ strengths rather than their weaknesses, they would make more money. Therefore, this approach is not just good for individual well-being but also for the company.
If you still don’t know what you are good at, think about it …
– What is that you do in which you are so absorbed you lose track of time?
– What can you do for the whole day that doesn’t end with a headache?
– What comes easily to you or what can you easily pick up?
Successful people, especially entrepreneurs, play to their strengths and hire for their weaknesses. Ask anyone who has found their life passion. They are all playing to their strengths. Always.
So don’t waste your young fabulous years on improving your weaknesses.
Choose the path to an authentic, passionate life by focusing most of your energy on strengthening your strengths.