Sometimes, our anxiety and negative thoughts are a result of not understanding our strengths.
The Second Part of Self-Love
In The Hart Habits, I break self-love into four parts. Last post was about the first, boundaries. Today's is about the second: knowing and embracing your natural strengths.
I Thought I Knew My Strengths
When I say strengths, what does that make you think?
I always thought I knew what mine were. I was gregarious, outgoing, and competent in a lot of situations, so I assumed my strengths were related to leadership, spreadsheets, scheduling, things like that.
Then I found the Clifton StrengthsFinder.
What the Clifton StrengthsFinder Actually Shows You
The CliftonStrengths assessment has now been taken by over 34 million people. Don Clifton developed it while serving as chairman of Gallup, the organization behind the worldwide Gallup Poll that's been collected since 1934. His research on human potential reached a massive audience through this tool, and the results are a goldmine.
I encourage you to take the hour-long assessment. You can purchase the book and get the evaluation for free, or purchase the assessment alone through Gallup's site.
Over a decade ago, this process taught me that my strengths are: activator, futuristic, relator, connectedness, and learner. I've used them ever since to build my coaching and consulting work, and The Hart Habits itself.
Why This Matters for Anxiety
When we know and work in our strengths, we get a lot more opportunity to feel fulfilled, and to feel like the contribution we're making is high value for the effort. You deserve to be valued for what you bring to the table. You're awesome.
So if you haven't done this before, today's the day. Take a moment to figure out what your strengths actually are. What helps you bring your best to the table?
If you aren't using your strengths regularly in your day-to-day life, that could be contributing to your anxiety and negative thinking. If you're not great at what you're spending your time doing, it's hard to focus on what's great about you.
But trust me: everyone has specific, unique strengths. There are no right or wrong ones. The CliftonStrengths assessment identifies 34 core strengths, and knowing your top five can significantly shift how you value yourself. Getting the chance to work in them, or build a business around them, is one of the real ways to create the life you want.
Recommended resources:
The Gallup CliftonStrengths Finder
Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath
Body of Work by Pamela Slim
The Widest Net by Pamela Slim
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
16Personalities (free MBTI alternative)
High5 Test
BetterHelp Online Therapy
Calm
Question of the day: What are your strengths? Do you get to use them every day?