How to Maximize Your Strengths and Outsource Your Weaknesses

Try to be the jack of all trades and you will end up being the master of none.  The highest and best use of your productivity is sharpening the axe around what you do best.  Here are some ways to do this:

Step 1:  Seek absolute clarity on what “what you do best” actually is. Figure out what it is that allows you to stand out from others. 

• For example, when it comes to your career, this requires identifying your top skills and talents via a thorough inventory of past experiences, feedback, and overall results. Consider the way you approach work – are you good at managing tactical details or are you more of a big picture strategic thinker?  Are you better at crunching numbers or are you perfectly at ease presenting in front of a large group?  What do people come to you for when they need help?  Are you good at distilling information and communicating ideas?  Can you get to the essence of a problem effectively and drive towards a resolution?  What comes easy to you that you enjoy doing?  Are you talented at cooperating with others, achieving consensus among differing opinions, or mobilizing a group to action? 

Step 2:  Aim for exponential progress over incremental improvement; use the momentum of your identified skill set to propel you forward. 

• For Example, there is a saying: “You cannot beat a river into submission. You have to surrender to its current and use its power to carry you forward.” 

Tying these examples together, by understanding your strengths and weaknesses you will be able to develop your own unique value proposition and align your actions to leveraging it most effectively.  By having a fundamental understanding of how you operate most efficiently, you enable yourself to do the best you can from where you are in every situation you find yourself in.  It becomes less of scattershot approach to taking on tasks and more of a targeted effort to attain the maximum degree of impact in whatever endeavor you are in. 

Further,  by emphasizing strengths you are developing a competitive advantage by moving with them, not against them.  Going against the current is spending all of your time trying to shore up the gaps that you feel might be holding you back.  The term “area of improvement” presupposes moving from a point of weakness to strength due to sustained effort over time.  The real focal point instead should be taking what you’re good at and becoming better. 

Remember, starting from a position of relative strength already gives you a running head start to level up in your business or your profession.  Your outcomes will be shaped by the way you handle this balance of addressing strengths versus minimizing weaknesses over the long run, so give it the attention it deserves.  This balance is harder to achieve than many are willing to admit, so don’t get discouraged if you keep defaulting to want to fix your weaknesses in the hopes that doing so will solve your problems.

The key to all of this is brutal honesty in your assessment of where your strengths lie and a willingness to continue to learn more about yourself knowing it will pay dividends over the long run.  You can’t build a strong house on a weak foundation, so pivot and adapt as necessary to allow yourself to grow.