How to Be Strong

Written by Jeff Hughes Monday, 21 March 2011 12:15

I'm not talking about physical strength, that's a different part of the blog. But as you go through your day what makes you feel strong? What makes you feel alive. Often we go through a work day and we have good or bad days, but we don't take time to understand what makes our days good or bad.

I'm not talking about physical strength, that's a different part of the blog. But as you go through your day what makes you feel strong? What makes you feel alive. Often we go through a work day and we have good or bad days, but we don't take time to understand what makes our days good or bad.

Are you aware of which activities you do during a day (in work or play) that make you feel more alive? Begin to be conscious of how you feel while you're completing your day-to-day tasks. As you do this you will find moments that make you feel strong- times you feel invigorated, inquisitive, successful. Those moments are clues as to what your strengths are.

There's a simple acronym to help you recognize the signs of strength: SIGN.

S- Success: Do you feel accomplishment about finishing this task?

*I- Instinct: Do you instinctively look forward to performing this task?

*G- Growth: Are your synapses fi ring? Are you mentally focused?

*N- Needs: Does this task fulfill one of your needs?

If you feel these feelings while doing a task, chances are that activity is one of your strengths.

Success magazine asked Marcus Buckingham: Why is it so important for people to be aware of their strengths?

MB: It's important to discover your strengths because the luckiest people are the ones who get to say to themselves every day: "Today, I had the opportunity to do what I am most invigorated by and what I do best." But the people who can say that probably haven't gotten there by luck. They've gotten to a point of high satisfaction in their lives precisely because they have made the effort to figure out what strengthens them (even if they wouldn't put it in those terms). And based on that knowledge of their strengths, they have intentionally made decisions that will allow them to play to their strengths instead of worrying about things that weaken them. Everybody talks about their "dream job," but it's important to remember that you can push your current job, no matter what it is, in the direction of a dream job. The more you consciously decide to use your strengths, the more satisfying your current job will be.

The secret for you create-long term success is to find the parts of your opportunites that make you feel strong, and to get other people to do the things that make you feel weak and exhausted.