[I’m currently on vacation until July 28th. During this time, I’ll be offline. While I’m gone I’ll be sharing some of my most popular posts. I will not be replying to the comments, however please still share your thoughts because this community is great at leading discussions.]
If you want to reach your personal and leadership potential then it requires maximizing your strengths. This only happens if you develop and focus on the areas you are most skilled, talented, and strong in while avoiding your weaknesses. It takes being disciplined and being intentional if you want to become the best in your strengths. Many people have failed at maximizing their strengths because,
They have never discovered their strengths.
They spend more time sharpening their weaknesses than their strengths.
They try to be well rounded or a master of all trades.
They lose sight of their passions and dreams.
They resist change and forward movement.
They are not disciplined, focused, or intentional.
They fear risk and stay in their comfort zone.
They never move past their success or failure.
These things will only hold you back from your leadership and strength potential. If you desire maximizing your strengths then apply these three suggestions into your life:
Practice- Practice is an essential action a leader does to maximize their strengths. It requires both practice and time to become better in your strengths. It takes an average of 10,000 hours or 10 years to become the best in a given area. In “Talent is Overrated”, Geoff Colvin share 5 elements to practice:
1. It is designed specifically to improve performance.
2. It has to be repeated a lot.
3. Feedback on results must be continuously available.
4. It is highly demanding mentally.
5. It isn’t all that much fun.
If we want to be the best in our strengths then it’s going to take time and intentional practice.
Maximizing- The words maximizing means to “Make the best use of” and this is what we must do with our strengths. Great leaders know the importance of focusing on and using their strengths on a daily basis. To see the benefits of using your strengths then read What Happens When Using Your Strengths.
Develop- Being intentional in developing your strengths is a must for a leader. If a leader is not developing in their strengths and leadership ability then they won’t be leading for long. A leader should take time to focus on developing their strengths through a personal development plan. The plan might include reading, listening to lessons, mentorship, and attending workshops. The goal should be to do thing things which will allow you to become a strength based leader.
Question: How do you maximize your strengths?
