Coaching Yourself to Extraordinary Results By Being & Doing Your Strengths

If you have been reading my weekly blog for awhile you know how much I love to write about the power of using your strengths and focusing on the positive. I’ve listed some of my prior blogs below with links if you are a new reader or if you want to do a quick review.

As I learned about my strengths (and continue to learn) I realized that the real value (and transformation to extraordinary results) comes when you use your strengths on a regular basis and share your talents with others. If you just read the information and then don’t do anything it is a waste of your time.

The magic is in the doing and being. I tend to be a doer but recently realized that if I shift into considering how I am being in a situation this can also make a big impact. For example, networking events are usually easy for me because I love talking about my work and one of my core strengths is “zest, enthusiasm, and energy” and since I am also an extrovert I get a lot of energy from talking with people. But, I found that at one event I was struggling with talking to different people and becoming uncomfortable. I realized that I was so focused on doing: “talk to as many people as possible who may be able give me business”, that I was being a bit overzealous and becoming uncomfortable. I shifted to relaxing a bit and being genuinely curious about them. I became more of one of my other core strengths: “honesty, authenticity and genuineness”, by how I was being and it started going much more smoothly.

If you haven’t already done it, figure out what your core strengths are: see the resource list below and/or talk to people around you and ask them to describe a time of when you were at your best. Then use these questions below to coach yourself into implementing your core strengths into your daily life (scientific evidence backs the fact that using your strengths regularly will significantly impact your results and success in work and life):

– Think about your activities on a typical day in the past week, did any of your top five strengths show up?

– What can you do specifically at home or at work to apply one of your top five strengths?

– How can you live your top five strengths into your daily life?

– What may get in your way of using your strengths and how can you overcome these obstacles?

Resources for identifying your strengths:

Please share an experience you have had in applying your strengths in a comment!

Prior Posts on Using Your Strengths:

5 Strategies for Building a Strength-Based Business & Life for More Success

Coaching to Focus on What is Going Well for Success with less Stress

Coaching Your Strengths: Delegate or Outsource For Success

photo credit: Stuck in Customs via Flickr Creative Commons.