Identifying Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Name: Identifying Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Author: Lucia Struzzeri

Learn to honestly assess yourself to make the most of your strengths and shore up any weak areas

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Course: On-Demand

Now that we have learned more about what personal effectiveness looks like and how it is demonstrated, let's turn our attention to identifying those personally effective qualities and attributes that you already have. One way to do that is to go through a skills inventory. Here is how you can do your own skills inventory. One— write down a list of the personally effective traits: risk tolerance, adaptability, willingness to learn, listening ability, collaboration and influence, determination, positive attitude, and balance and organization. Then, put the list aside for the moment. Two, take an activity that you engage in regularly, such as grocery shopping or going to the gym. Give yourself about 15 minutes of quiet time to reflect upon your behaviors during that activity. Three, after engaging in the activity, take out your list and review it in the context of what you did earlier. Identify the desirable qualities and attributes you demonstrated while engaged in that activity. Make note of those qualities, especially the ones that might surprise you a little bit. This exercise can clue you in to what is already working for you. Here's another approach you can use on a daily basis. It involves staying mindful and self-aware of your normal thoughts and reactions. This approach involves keeping four simple questions in mind. What do I regularly do that I'm passionate about? The qualities and attributes required for you to perform the activities you are passionate about will usually be the ones you are pretty strong in. Two— how do I define myself and what I do? Try to let go of your job title and think more in terms of how you are doing it. For example, if you are doing user support for an IT department, how much of that work involves coaching others on how to do something, and, doesn't that coaching involve at least a couple of the desirable traits, such as listening ability and determination, in order to keep things running smoothly? Three— other than for payment, why do what I'm doing? Our strengths often lead us to our career choices. Thinking about this in the context of our user support tech, it could be reasonable to acknowledge willingness to learn, as the knowledge base required for that field is constantly evolving. Four— what makes me unique? This could be a bit of a tough one, especially for those who perform similar jobs. Given a little bit of thought, however, it's very possible that our user support tech comes to work with an unusually positive attitude or a great degree of adaptability.

Beginner Provider : Lucia Struzzeri 4 Lessons · 12m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

Do you know what your strengths and weaknesses are? That's a difficult question for most people to answer without considerable self-reflection. But it's also very important, as knowing your strengths and weaknesses can give you a degree of self-awareness that will increase your personal effectiveness and improve your life. In this course, you’ll identify your strengths by participating in a Skills Inventory exercise. Next, you’ll discover techniques that will help you capitalize on your strengths. Then, you’ll analyze areas in which you might improve your personal effectiveness and learn steps to fix any gaps you identify.

What You'll Learn

Identify your strengths by taking inventory of your skills through a Skills Inventory exercise
Apply techniques to capitalize on and make the most of your strengths
Examine areas of your life where your personal effectiveness can be improved
Identify gaps in your effectiveness
Explore steps to close the gaps between your strengths and weaknesses

Key Takeaways

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses builds self-awareness that increases personal effectiveness and improves your life.
Identifying your strengths and weaknesses is difficult for most people without considerable self-reflection.
A Skills Inventory exercise is used to identify your strengths and recognize strength indicators.
After identifying gaps in effectiveness, you can follow steps to fix those gaps and close the distance between your strengths and weaknesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will identify your strengths through a Skills Inventory exercise, discover techniques to capitalize on your strengths, analyze areas where you can improve your personal effectiveness, and learn steps to fix any gaps you identify.

What lessons does this course include?

The course covers four lessons: Strength Indicators, Steps to Capitalize on Your Strengths, Identifying Gaps in Effectiveness, and Steps to Fix Effectiveness Gaps.

Why is identifying your strengths and weaknesses important?

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses gives you a degree of self-awareness that will increase your personal effectiveness and improve your life.

How does the course help me identify my strengths?

You identify your strengths by participating in a Skills Inventory exercise that takes inventory of your skills.