What Are You Great At? What Are Your Strengths?

“What are you good at?” That was a question that completely stumped me while attending Focus Leadership Institute (FLI) in the spring of 2011. I remember sitting in my professors office just speechless and the only thing that came to my mind was, “I can make brownies.” Driving back to my apartment after that conversation I was still trying to figure out what I was good at and getting frustrated that I could not think of anything. I could list about twenty things off the top of my head that I was bad at, but not one single thing that I was good at. For the next four months I was determined to figure it out and go back to my professors and tell them.

Recently, the Axis staff got a chance to sit in on the newest FLI class and hear my former leadership professor talk on strengths. He began with a challenge, “Write your full name five times as fast as you can.” I never realized how long my full name is. My first name has seven letters, my middle name has nine letters, and my last name has six letters -- it took me a while to finish. The next part of the challenge was to do the same thing, but with our non-dominant hand. I got through two and a half times before he told us to stop. My team members and I were laughing as we compared our names.

I’ve heard people tell me many times, ‘you have to strengthen your weaknesses’. Which has always

forced me to focus on what I am bad at. But if you think about the writing challenge I just mentioned above, why would I focus on writing with my bad hand when I’m already so good at writing with my good hand? That doesn’t make any sense. In working on what we are bad at we are neglecting where we are strong. But on the other hand (pun intended), by focusing on our strengths we become good at what God created us to be good at. You grow more by focusing on your strengths not your weaknesses. One of my teachers in high school used to say “perfect practice equals perfect” just by practicing something does not mean we will become good at it. Practicing my weaknesses will make my weaknesses (a little bit) stronger but practicing my strengths will make what I am already strong at…a lot stronger.

Let me finish the story I began this blog with…At FLI we took the StrengthsFinder test. After taking the test I called my mom and told her that the test said my five top strengths are: Includer, Developer, Adaptability, Positivity, and Belief. I didn’t trust the test, and figured my mom knows me better than anyone else. After reading them off to her she started laughing and said, “Those words describe you perfectly.”

Many times we cannot see our own strengths or if we notice them we do not see them as great or important. I know sometimes my fears have gotten in the way of my strengths and me using them. Really successful people thrive because they use their strengths with purpose and intentionality. After taking the test and learning about where I am strong I was able to focus on that instead of dwelling on where I’m weak.

Now if anyone asks me what I am good at I can tell them. But I may also respond by saying I am pretty good at making brownies too.

What are your strengths? How can you build on them? And did this blog make you want to eat brownies too? Comment below and continue the discussion…

Kaitlin is a member of Team Colin, and travels around the country helping students and their communities move from apathy to compassionate action. You can follow her and the other Axis Teams on Twitter: @axisteams