Let’s talk about strengths.
While much is made about knowing your strengths and ‘playing to them’ in every aspect of life, what they actually are and how they work often seems to be something of a mystery.
Your strengths are your innate abilities—things you do so easily that you take them for granted and may even assume everyone possesses them. They include traits such as social intelligence, courage, honesty and curiosity—qualities that are hard to measure but critical to success in the pursuit of becoming your best self.
One thing that makes strengths so difficult to pin down is that they can be expressed in countless ways. Take creativity—it covers everything from the immediately obvious (painting, drawing, music, dance, writing) to the less apparent (mathematics, computer coding).
Someone with creative strength might naturally paint beautiful landscapes or harmonise spontaneously to music, while another might lose themselves in algorithms and complex equations. But put the dancer in front of a piano or the mathematician before an easel, and they may be all at sea.
All of this means that not many people fully understand their strengths. Even those who do recognise them often underestimate their value. We can feel like we have no strengths, or that our strengths aren’t significant.
So how do you recognise and appreciate your strengths?
A great starting point is the free VIA Strengths Inventory—a proven questionnaire that helps identify your top strengths from 24 possibilities. Alternatively, try identifying three specific situations where you were fully engaged and things turned out well. Examine what strengths you displayed in those moments and reflect on how using those strengths made you feel, affected your outcomes, and influenced your self-perception.
Knowing what strengths you have is vital information. But how apply them in your adventure toward becoming your best self is even more important than knowing what they are. Why? Well, let me explain.
Firstly, strengths open up opportunities to release more of your passion—to do things you truly enjoy.
When you engage in activities you love, your strengths naturally come into play, becoming more prominent in everyday life. This creates a virtuous circle. Since your strengths are expressions of the real you—windows into your best self—the more you use them, the more you discover about yourself, including what you genuinely enjoy.
Secondly, using your strengths daily builds resilience.
When you apply them to everything from routine tasks to unexpected challenges, you develop deep-rooted resistance to negative messages and circumstances that inevitably arise. This resilience keeps you on track, preventing your adventure from being derailed.
Thirdly, using your strengths positively impacts self-perception.
When you exercise your strengths, you build a positive view of yourself, which creates momentum toward becoming your best self. Conversely, neglecting your strengths leads to losing that momentum and seeing yourself in a more negative light.
For example, imagine waking up feeling low, having a terrible day, and then facing a colleague pushing all the wrong buttons at the worst possible time. If self-control is your strength, you can manage the emotions building inside, preventing a negative explosion. This response helps you see yourself as calm and level-headed, making you feel good about yourself, which in turn lightens the heaviness you felt earlier.
Lastly, your strengths help you set and achieve goals that move you through each phase of your adventure.
Strengths like perseverance, prudence, creativity, and hope can make the difference between staying the course and falling at the first hurdle.
It’s no exaggeration to say that neglecting your strengths jeopardises your adventure, while playing to them opens the door to success. Don’t take your strengths for granted—get to know them, cherish them, and embrace them every day. Your journey to your best self depends on it.
