You have strengths and you have weaknesses.
You’re human. You’re not perfect, but in the world of business, you can’t let them see your flaws – at least not often.
Which makes a better first impression? Exhibiting a positive attitude about fixing a problem or blubbering over what’s going wrong? The first shows a strength – optimism, and the other shows a weakness – fear. Unfortunately, your boss, customer or potential business partner will only remember the later.
You need to play to your strengths, whatever they may be.
The best way to find and play to your strengths, to analyze the way you perform in certain business situations, is to give yourself a job interview.
Think about it, you go on so many job interviews in your life; you tailor your answers to best fit the job description. But what if you could invent a job, your dream job, and interview for it? How would that look?
First, take a look at your past experiences. Pull out that resume and actually think back to the different jobs that you’ve had. Don’t just look; remember. Which jobs did you like? Which did you loathe? What did you learn from each?
Then, figure out (separate) your successes and failures. I’ll go out on a limb and say the jobs you loved you were probably more successful at than the ones you hated. But what you really need to do is think about very specific successes. What did your bosses tell you during your performance reviews? What were the projects you exceled at the most? What did the customers like most about you?
Next, find your strengths from your successes and failures. When you take a look at both you successes AND failures, you’ll probably start to see a pattern. What strengths lead to your successes? What strengths helped you survive your failures? It’s out of our mistakes that we become strong, further developing our discipline, persistence, and attitude.
Finally, come up with your dream job. Now the research begins. With those strengths in mind, research what types of jobs (or projects) use your strengths the most – ones that make you shine. You may be surprised at some of the results, but when you find your sweet spot – your strengths that make you stand out - you’ll be amazed at the level of fulfillment and happiness (and success) you will achieve.
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Have you found your sweet spot in life yet?
The way to get ahead in this life and be genuinely happy is to start at the beginning and know your true self. I could offer plenty of great advice, but unless you truly understand who you are, your strengths and your weaknesses, and are willing to make a change, then the success you might find from any bit of advice I could give would be short lived.
I encourage you to Take the Keller Influence Indicator®(or KII®, pronounced “kay-two”). This is the first influence assessment designed to help you understand the exact influence traits it takes in order to create the change you want to see. You'll learn which of these influence traits are already working hard for you, and which ones need work.
"The FIRST requirement for being an influential person is knowing yourself." ~ Dr. Karen Keller
Take the Keller Influence Indicator®
