2017 has been an eye-opener for me, personally. I’ve had quite a few losses (time, energy, space, relationships) along with a bunch of decent wins. In retrospect, however, I strongly feel those losses could have been averted had I been just cognizant of my weaknesses instead of trying (way) too hard to convert them into strengths.
“Turning our weaknesses into strengths” in my opinion is an archaic motivational theory that seldom works. Sure, that’ll make one heck of a comeback story! But the concept lacks practicality.
Taking into considering our most valuable and limited resource, time, I think we’re better off being aware of our weaknesses and focus to work on the most critically important one. (Preferably an aspect of life that, if not worked on, will seep into your business or life and destroy it.) That’s it!
You have to double down (perhaps quadruple it down!) on your strengths. Most people I know are doing just the opposite. I’ve been there myself and I can tell you this — it’s inefficient.
I would stretch this idea further and say that 80% of our time should be spent working off of our strengths and only 20% working on our weaknesses.
And when it comes to weaknesses one-by-one is how it’s done.