What Are Your Strengths And Weaknesses? How Answering These Questions Can Help You Achieve Happiness

Often, especially when we're interviewing for a new job, we are asked "what are your strengths and weaknesses?" Some of us have an easy time figuring out what our strengths are; others have an easier time identifying their weaknesses. Whatever category you fall into, knowing who you are helps us discover our strengths and weaknesses, and how to re-enforce our strengths and mitigate or eliminate our weaknesses.

In order to find out what your strengths truly are, look at your talents. Are you a good chef, or a musician? What about an athlete or a good friend? What we often call as "talents" are actually titles that surround our talents. If we look at these titles you can discover the true underlying talents. For example, what denotes a good friend? Loyalty, compassion, and trustworthiness, are just some of the traits that I would use to define the qualities of a good friend. What makes a good chef? Their creativity, fearlessness, and passion are all things that come to mind when I think of good chefs. These adjectives are all strengths that when combined define the title of our talents.

Our weaknesses can be found in the areas of our life that inhibit us from achieving our goals. One seemingly positive weakness that many people have is that they're people pleasers. They will take on too much work in attempts to please others, which results in our inability to finish our work or an inability to produce the quality of work we typically produce. Another common weakness is procrastination. Many people today suffer from procrastination due to the ease of surfing the internet. There are even shortcuts built into computer systems that allow us to easily maneuver between windows allowing us to quickly hide the fact that we were just online instead of writing a report when our boss walks by.

Now that we know the answer to "what are your strengths and weaknesses?" We can now go about trying to figure out the best way of utilizing our strengths and either eliminating or mitigating our weaknesses. After identifying our strengths, we need to go about finding the best way for them to be utilized in our given profession, or in the various professions we are interested in pursuing. If one of your strengths is actually a trait that would not be accommodating to the job you're applying for or currently working, chances are you're not happy with where your professional life.

To mitigate or eliminate your weaknesses you're going to have to first acknowledge that they are in fact weaknesses, and second be dedicated to either mitigate them or eliminate them completely. For example if you're a people pleaser you're most likely going to want to mitigate this weakness so it doesn't impair the quality of your life or work you produce, but you still want to be able to please your boss or your significant other. Procrastination on the other hand is going to be one of those weaknesses you're going to want to eliminate. If you can't help surfing the internet instead of doing the work expected of you, you need to be disciplined and not even open up the web browser if possible. Eliminating the temptation to procrastinate often helps us in training ourselves how to be productive.

Ultimately in the end we really want to be able to answer the question " what are your strengths and weaknesses?" because it helps us understand who we are and what we should be doing with our lives that will bring us the greatest joy, happiness, and fulfillment. In the end, happiness is really what everyone is looking for, and you can only be happy once you know who you are, and take responsibility for your life by accepting all your strengths and weaknesses.

Source: 

Big Keith's Appraisal - The Office - BBC

This is an hilarious example of being completely self aware in the wrong way!!

Move From Dream to Actuality

Most of us have dreams. We see ourselves in a great job, imagine being in the ideal relationship, living in a great neighborhood, writing, creating visual art... But we're not there, and we don't seem to be getting any closer to being there. Why is that, and how do we change it? How do we move from dream to actuality

Dreams are a Great Beginning

The things we imagine come from someplace deeper than our conscious mind. The place in us that is like a powerful, winding river, inexorably moving under the surface of consciousness. Moving us along our life's path, whether we know it or not, whether we want to go that way or not. Moving us in the direction of being wholly who we are. This is the place of inspiration, the place that brings ideal visions to our minds. Unfortunately, most of us are too busy anxiously trying to navigate the boulders and branches in the river to notice where the river seems to be moving us.

The First Step is Awareness

Awareness of the dream, of what we're longing for. Taking the vision seriously-more seriously than the boulders and branches. Letting it flesh itself out; dreaming into the details. If you're in a relationship that isn't quite working for you, notice what your vision of the ideal relationship consists of. What stands in the way of having that in your current relationship? Is it only something your partner habitually does, or is it also because you haven't let him or her know how their behavior affects you, and what you need in the relationship? If you feel stuck in your job, are there things you can do to change it, or could you move into a job that matches you better? If you'd like to start writing, painting or photography, is it really that there's no time or is it something else?

Overcoming the Fear

One thing that's in the way when we try to move from dream to reality is that when we think about doing it, a kind of lethargy or fatigue comes over us. This feeling is often just (just!) fear of the unknown, and when it's allowed to go on for a while, it can turn into depression. The lethargy is something inside saying "You can't do that; you don't know how; you're not good enough/smart enough; it's too risky." The vision is energizing, but when you take it seriously enough to actually think about taking a step in that direction, the inner fear takes over.

Fear is Okay

Fear is natural, because you're contemplating jumping into the unknown. Notice all the details of the fear and have a dialogue with it, as if it's a character inside of you. Often, it's actually a part of you that's trying to protect you. Let it tell you what it's afraid of. Then, together, come up with a way to take what it's saying into account. That often makes it easier to begin to move from dream to reality.

Now We're Moving!

Now you can take the first step. One of the best ways to start-keeping your vision in mind-is to divide getting there into small pieces. Notice which one is the easiest and do that one first, then enjoy your accomplishment. After that, either it gets easier to go one step after the other or you do the next easiest and enjoy your accomplishment. For example, if you hate your job and you've decided to move on, make a list of all the salient parts of the ideal job of your dreams. Does it involve interacting with a lot of people or being alone? Is it outside, in an office or maybe in a mixture of settings? Do you have fixed hours or flexible hours? What kinds of activities are involved? Etc., etc.
Now, do some research on the kinds of jobs that meet all or at least some of your vision. Do you already have all the education, skills and experience to move into such a job, or do you need to acquire more of some of them? If you do need more skills or education, what's the first thing you can do? What's the easiest thing? If you already have all that's required, what is the easiest step you can take to move in the direction of being in that job.

Now, Actually Do It!

That's the really important thing to move from dream to actuality-you have to actually do something. Darn it! So many times, the dream is so satisfying. Unfortunately, imagining yourself in the new, better situation is way easier than getting yourself to actually do what it takes to get there. One solution: creating a concrete activity and setting yourself a deadline for getting it done. Once you've accomplished the activity, give yourself credit, celebrate. Then create the next concrete activity and another deadline. Give yourself consequences for not doing it. For example, I can't do "x" until I've done the next step. Then ask, "Did I do the step? If not, what's stopping me?" It could be that fear voice from above, in which case, have the dialogue again and find out how to assuage the fear so that you can move on.

If You Need Help

If you do all of what's described above, you'll find yourself in the place of your dream.

Sometimes it takes getting some help from a coach.

Source

One-step-at-a-time - goal achieving cartoon doodle video

How to Succeed on the Job and During a Search? It's What You Think, Stupid!

Your future success is determined by what you think about yourself right now. Your tomorrows are defined by your today's and what you think about all day long. So your future cannot be any more satisfying than the current opinions you hold of yourself.

By way of example, let's say that during grammar school one of your classmates said that you were a loser. You would hold on to that opinion of yourself to this very day. A negative byproduct of what you think about yourself is that you would be afraid to try new things for fear of failing.

And take the characteristics of poor people who become big lottery winners. They often lose it all. That's because they hold poverty opinions about themselves and are unable to invest their millions wisely. No matter how huge the jackpot they win, their reality is still one of being needy and of hardship. As a result of their thinking, they behave as poor people do.

You can change your mind

"If you believe that your current reality is fixed," said motivational author Louis C. Tice quoted on the Internet, "You get trapped in your own mistaken sense of ""This is the way it is."" You tend to think things are always going to be this way. But Tice says "the present is not permanent. You can change your mind."

What you think is how you'll act

When you possess a negative self-image, you'll act like the schlump you believe you are and always have been. So there's a need to change the image you have of you.

Happy talk

Self-image is a result of what we tell ourselves. If your self-talk is limiting, you are building limitation into your belief system. Always tell yourself who you want to be and what you want to have

Bloody Mary, a character in the Broadway play and movie South Pacific, knew this well when she sang:

"Happy talk, keep talking happy talk,Talk about things you'd like to do,
You gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?"

You always act in line with the daydreams you've created for yourself

When you're able to visualize yourself as successful in your field of work, your subconscious will take over and change how and what you think and therefore act. This happens over a period of time as you work to match the new image of yourself that you hold in your head.

Tice sums it up nicely when he writes, "What you achieve is largely a matter of what you believe; in fact, you might say: believe equals achieve."

How to give yourself an attitude adjustment

So what's an attitude anyway? It's the stance you take and the outlook you have towards something or someone. You aren't born with the attitudes you hold. You've created them by habitual ways you think about a person, place, or situation. This thinking is habitual because attitudes have been programmed into you psyche..

An attitude you hold is positive when someone or something attracts you. The reverse is true when you retreat from something. In that case, you'll have a negative outlook.

Has someone ever accused you of having a bad attitude? If so, it meant you had a negative outlook because that person or situation repulsed you. On the other hand, if someone has complemented you by saying, "I like your attitude," it meant that person attracted you and you had a positive attitude towards her.

Attitude is neither good or bad until you have a goal. If your goal is to get a job in sales but are confronted with an established attitude about hating to ask for something in sales situations, you have a bad attitude. To succeed in a sales job you need to change your mind from fearing to ask for something-the order-to wanting to help customers achieve their goals by using and enjoying the wonderful product or service you provide.

Similarly, if you fear going on job interviews for the same reason, you must change your mind to wanting to show prospective employers how you can help them achieve their hiring goals.

You can eliminate lots of stress by changing your self-image from a person who fails to achieve, to one who deserves and seeks the goal he's after. This kind of visualization can help you to change your mind and your life by changing the picture you hold of yourself.

Two nice takeaways from this article

First, learn to control the way you talk to yourself or think about yourself. As an editor edits his copy, learn to edit your thoughts by substituting negative self-talk to positive and affirming "happy talk."

And second, visualize the end result you want to achieve in any area of life-from business and romance, to the job you want, the salary you deserve, and the kind work environment you desire.
Take it from Bloody Marty:

"You gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream,

How you gonna have a dream come true?"

Source

Never give up by Nick Vujicic

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