Graduation

Graduation

Monday, November 5, 2012

Playing to my Strengths

Deron went into the office for three days straight a couple of weeks ago.  It's quite a commute for him, but he learned a great deal during his employee council conference.  He came home and had me watch parts of the same seminar he had to watch.  The video was very interesting.  It was all about playing to your strengths.

The gentleman in the video says that only two out of ten people really enjoy what they do.  Two out of ten. That number is shockingly low.  Now, as an adult, if you're in a job you don't enjoy, it's not like you can switch jobs...just like that.  He suggests really evaluating your strengths and finding ways to incorporate what you enjoy and what you're good at into your day.

He suggests going back in your memories and thinking about what you enjoyed doing as a child.  Most of the time, your interests don't change. Your strengths don't change, and you have the same weaknesses.  He details several myths, as well.

One of which is this:  If you focus on what you struggle in, you'll get better at it and enjoy it more when in reality, you might get better, but you probably won't ever be great at the things you don't enjoy.  He suggests balance in study.  If your kid has 2 As, 1 B, and 1 F, don't focus solely on the F.  Continue a balanced study.

So what did my husband enjoy doing as a child?  Designing things, making things...He gets to incorporate that into his work on a regular basis.  He doesn't like documentation or finishing the projects.  Sometimes he still has to do those things, but he gets help from his co-workers who do enjoy taking the spinning top of a project and finishing it.  He gets me to proofread documentation.  He enlists the help of people who enjoy doing the things he doesn't enjoy doing. In a sense, they are able to work together to get the best traits out of one another.

Even when you find where you want to be, will there be things you don't enjoy doing? Yes.  Will you have to do them anyway? Yes.  But if you can find ways, even small ways, to incorporate things you love to do into your day, you might turn into one of the two. If you can find ways to incorporate things you enjoy doing that make you lose track of time, maybe, just maybe, you could be one of the two.

That seminar took me back to my childhood dreams of being a mom and a teacher.  (Granted...I didn't know I would be a homeschooling mom.)  So thinking about what I envisioned for myself as a little girl, I think I'm in a position to really enjoy trying to do the best I can where I am.  You know...bloom where I'm planted.  The grass is greenest where I water it and all that...

I'll still have to do the not-so-fun jobs around here, but hopefully, I can tip the scale toward what I really want to be doing.  Being a mom and teaching my kids...investing the best of my efforts and the bulk of my time into the things I really enjoy.  And I hope Deron and I can keep these things in mind as we raise our children, as we help them grow into teenagers and into adults.  How can they incorporate what they really enjoy into their futures?


1 comment:

Jennifer said...

I love this post! I think you are speaking right to me!
Love you,
Jennifer