Primed Weakness

What is your greatest strength?

I don’t know about you, but I focus constantly on what I need to do better. I am too aware of how much I struggle to stay organized, how forgetful I can be, how much I procrastinate, or how hard it can be for me to focus when I am working on something that doesn’t feel pressing or isn’t interesting to me.

But my strengths?

I would consider myself to be kind, empathetic, trusting, honest, adaptable, adept, and amiable.

My greatest strength?

Oof.

Ummmmmmm

My height?

If I had to choose, it would be my amiable nature.

Standing at 6’9”, I have a lot of people randomly approach me to ask me if I play basketball and how the weather is up here.

I take pride in being able to use that as an entry-point into a deeper conversation where I can get to know that person significantly better.

I find people genuinely interesting and figuring out what makes them tick. I especially love when my wide-spanning interests happen to overlap with theirs. I believe that you can find overlapping interests with just about anybody if you talk long enough.

So maybe it’s not my amiable nature that is my greatest strength, but my desire for connection?

Without context, this question is hard.

If you asked, "What is your greatest strength at work?” I would easily respond with my ability to connect with others.

If you asked, “What is your greatest strength at the gym?” I would say showing up.

If you asked, “What is your greatest skill at home?” Let’s just say it is not my tidiness…

There we go again. A weakness.

Our education system fails us in a lot of ways and this may be yet another area.

We are thrown into various courses that have minimal impact on our future and are expected to perform. This expectation is communicated through a grading system that reflects your value as a student.

This system communicates your strengths and weaknesses within the context of your coursework immediately and a lot more attention is paid to your failures than your successes.

You are taught to focus more time and attention on bolstering the weaknesses instead of leaning harder into what you excel at.

When you finally get out of the education system into the real world, this sticks with you. Not to mention that most corporate organizations assess your performance quarterly to inform you of where you are performing and where you need to focus your attention.

Again, we are taught to lean harder into fixing our weaknesses.

I wonder… What would the world look like if we all leaned into our strengths, allowing others to help offset our weaknesses?

Better yet—what would your life look like if you stopped fixing what is broken and instead focused on what is working?