Effective businesses and great achievers, according to numerous studies, focus on utilizing their strengths rather than trying to rectify their faults. In the book Go Put your Strengths to Work, Marcus Buckingham guides you through the 6 steps to identify your strengths and to apply it in real life for outstanding performance. We are most productive, creative, and resilient when we are using our strengths. We're on a high emotional ebb, and time rushes by.
Despite this, a survey of 2 million people found that just 17% of respondents believe they spend the most of their time at work using their talents, implying that only 2 out of 10 people use their strengths on a daily basis. There is no such thing as a perfect job; every professional function entails a variety of tasks, and not all of them can play to our strengths. To put your strengths to good use, you must first be able to identify them, then act on them.
- But The Myths- The majority of people fail to put their strengths to good use because they have self-defeating ideas. The book debunks three myths that must be dispelled before we can properly exploit our assets
● The Myth: Your personality will evolve as you grow older. The Truth: As you grow older, you become more and more of who you truly are.
● The Myth: Wherever you're weakest, you'll grow the greatest. The Truth: Your greatest strength is where you will grow the most.
● The Myth: Good team members go above and above for the team. The Truth: Most of the time, good team members contribute their strengths to the team.
- Know Your Strengths- Your strengths are specific activities that you consistently perform well, to a world-class or near-perfect standard; hence, strengths must be contextualized into specific, real-world activities. Your personal strengths will be a unique mix of:
● Your skills and abilities
● Your abilities
● Your knowledge
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Free Your Strengths- You can focus on making your talents relevant to your job now that you know what you do best – the trick is to figure out how to channel our skills to fulfill the expectations of our clients, boss(es), colleagues, and career desire, then build a routine to keep it going.
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Stop Your Weaknesses- You'll also want to avoid your flaws in a systematic manner.
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Speak Up- We must learn to speak up effectively in order to attain exceptional results. We must be able to communicate our strengths without coming across as arrogant, as well as our limitations without coming across as whiny, and convey them in a way that is useful to others. This phase entails speaking out so that you can receive practical assistance from your boss.
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Build Strong Habits- Even if you've followed all five stages above, it's easy to fall back into old habits, especially if you momentarily neglect your disciplines or are interrupted by a huge event at work or in your life. That's why you need to develop positive habits that will help you stay on track. Learn the five habits to help you create and continuously position yourself to use your skills.