What if…
What if you focused on fixing everything that is a deficiency for you? What if you vowed to overcome each area in your life where you are weak? What would the outcome be?
At a recent conference, I had the opportunity to share what I do; help business owners maximize their teams and people power. One of the attendees shared a story with me about an acquaintance who took the opposite approach. Instead of focusing on his strengths he vowed to eliminate his weaknesses. In doing so, he would become the perfect person. You know how this story ends, don’t you? After several brushes with the law, failed businesses and relationships, the person passed lonely and disappointed with life.
The story got me thinking about how the focus on fixing weaknesses could deliver such an opposite effect. When I talk with small business owners about the benefits of focusing on strengths we touch on topics such as employee productivity, increased collaboration and team work, a clear understanding of the value one brings to the organization, the appreciation of others and the delightful side effects of employees gaining confidence in their abilities, professionally and personally.
When I thought deeply about the opposite approach I could see so clearly how focusing on fixing what is wrong could be so debilitating. If we are not good at something we can gain knowledge and learn skills to help us perform better. However, it will take a lot of effort just to get to “average.” The time and energy it will take will be exhausting. And the rewards minimal.
How long could you keep doing that? How would continued mediocrity impact your psyche? Might you come to feel and believe that the world is a cruel, hard place and that working hard and trying to improve gets you nowhere?
It pains me just to write that. It is truly an unfamiliar feeling for me. Yet now I can see how so many become discouraged and resigned to a life of mediocrity (or worse) when the focus is on what they lack rather than what they have.
So many become discouraged and resigned to a life of mediocrity (or worse) when the focus is on what they lack rather than what they have.
Society reinforces this feeling of lack. Watch 5 minutes of TV or scroll Facebook and see how “less than worthy” you can feel. The still present method of command and control management in many companies belittles employees diminishing decision making skills and squelching the voice of many. Only a fortunate few move through an educational system designed to bring out the best in each child.
Emerging from the funk that resulted from that story and imagined journey, it serves to only reinforce what research has proven. Focusing on what is right with people delivers far greater freedoms. You can do this for yourself, for your family, for your business, for your team. Every single person that has the opportunity to come to know and work in their strengths will be a positive impact on the rest of the world. What impact will you have?