Playing to Your Strengths

I've mentioned Marcus Buckingham and his books in previous posts. The book he co-authored with Curt Coffman, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently is what first introduced me to the Strengths Revolution and what inspired me to stay true to myself and my strengths at a difficult time in my life.

This weekend I read his latest book, StandOut, after taking the latest strength assessment. After 25 minutes in which you respond to scenarios, you get your top two strengths and a full report on what this means to you. (If you're interested in taking the assessment without purchasing the book, it's available for $15 at http://standout.tmbc.com/gui/individualAssessment.)

The book was the usual combination of inspiring plus informative, but there were a few things that it either reiterated or introduced that I want to briefly mention here:

1. To succeed at a job, it has to play to your strengths and/or allow you to alter it so that it does so; otherwise the job will drain you while you try to excel at something you're not programmed to be good at.
2. Your strengths are where you can contribute the most so it's best to focus on them as opposed to trying to be good at everything.
3. Everyone will put their own spin on tasks based on their strengths and this is a good thing.

If you don't know what your strengths are, I recommend you take this or some other self-assessment test so that this knowledge can inform your decisions. If you do know what you're good at, then hold on to that even when things are difficult because only when you utilize your strengths can you really shine, excel--and be happy.