Whether it’s a conscious decision on their part or just something that happens without conscious involvement, top business builders and other high performers focus on developing their innate strengths rather than correcting their perceived weaknesses.
It’s a simple distinction, but one that separates the ordinary from people who perform at the top of their field. Successful salespeople go with the flow and pursue activities that come naturally to them. They are not trying to be something they are not. However, they don’t just embrace their innate talents, successful salespeople also develop these talents into world-class strengths.
Successful salespeople and other high-performing employees know that focusing on so-called weaknesses and imperfections is a negative focus on what they think is missing in their lives. They know that when the focus is on limitations, they will experience limits in their life. More of what you don’t want will manifest when the mind is allowed to think of the lower.
This isn’t to say that the best don’t manage their weaknesses, but they don’t spend time trying to turn that weakness into a strength. They align themselves with peers who have complementary strengths instead of trying to become something they are not. A focus on strengths allows the mind to dwell on the personal attributes that are uniquely yours.
A focus on building strengths has the potential to:
* radically improve performance at work
* improve your overall sense of satisfaction
* train the mind to focus on the good
* build enduring and supportive teams
* reduce your need to conform to the expectations of others
* remove the limits of your success
* improve your self-confidence
* attract people to your positive energy and outlook on life
During my time in the field where I was cultivating contacts, I spent very little time learning how to turn a weakness into a strength. I can’t say it was a conscious decision of mine at the time, I just wanted to do things that made me feel good. There were times when my job required me to do things I didn’t enjoy, but whenever I had the freedom, I just stopped doing activities that weakened me. Over time, I learned that spending my time adding skills and knowledge that supported my strengths and natural abilities improved my performance more than spending time trying to improve my weaknesses.
For example, in my early years as a business developer, I took assertiveness training as this trait is considered important in sales. He would be assertive when he needed to be, but it was never a trait he carried very well. My apparent lack of assertiveness was seen as a handicap by my managers and myself. After spending a significant amount of time and money on assertiveness training, I was able to understand the concepts well enough, but still lacked the ability to apply them to my role as a salesperson. Basically, after a significant investment, the training really did nothing to support my sales performance. If anything, I feel like training set me back because I was swimming against the current. The time I spent trying to learn this new personality trait made me very uncomfortable. I was trying to use a label that went against my nature. Essentially, I was trying to learn to be less like myself and more like I thought I should be.
Trying to correct this weakness left me feeling weak, tired, and without inspiring energy. I didn’t feel good about myself or the innate abilities I knew I had. Because my focus was on what was missing, I fell into a depression during this time.
When I finally made the connection between investing in my strengths and performance excellence, the excitement and peace of mind of limitless possibilities replaced the fear, anxiety, and defensiveness I had previously felt from missing certain attributes.
Once I began to focus on my strengths, I began to appreciate and notice the strengths in others as well. I surrounded myself with people who loved doing things that I didn’t do. We had open conversations about our strengths to see where we could trust each other. We then allowed ourselves the freedom to creatively structure our work so that each of us could focus on what we enjoyed most. Any team works better when each member knows where they can trust the other team members the most. The sheer joy each of us derived from using our own personal strengths on a daily basis catapulted our team’s success.
You have the capacity within you to infinitely create, spread goodness, and see good everywhere. All of this can begin by keeping your focus on your own unique abilities and innate strengths. You have the power to leave people with a lasting feeling of inspiration simply by keeping a positive focus on strengths and seeing the good around you. It is this lasting feeling that lifts you above the common and ordinary.
©2007 Terri Roulette McCartney & Selling A Difference, Inc. – www.SellingADifference.com [http://www.sellingadifference.com]
