Just came across a new post on my friend David Pollay's Blog that caught my attention...
While leading discovery conversations and talking about focusing on Strengths, people usually ask me why not to work on those things that we are not good at... It seems he is getting the same type of questions...
I have found several ways to explain the reasons why I find it more effective to work and focus on what we are good at; however David has mastered the usage of own tales from his family experiences...
Here is an excerpt from his post:
The other day one of you wrote to me and asked, “David, why should we focus on our strengths? We can do some more work on what we’re already good at, but why not just get right to our weaknesses?” Let me tell you about an experience I had with one of my daughters.
Making a bracelet
Last year, Eliana, who was 4 at the time, came into the kitchen with a big smile and a “rattling” box in her hands. She walked past me, climbed up on a stool, and dropped the box on the breakfast counter. I had barely enough time to read the box cover, “Jewelry Making Kit,” when Eliana said, “Papi, let’s make a bracelet.”
Eliana and I delicately strung beads on a bracelet wire. We used beads of all colors, beads with numbers, and we even spelled Eliana’s name. One hour later and our bracelet was complete.
Not a fit
There was just one problem. The bracelet did not fit Eliana’s wrist! I couldn’t believe it! After all that effort, it was too small!
I wouldn’t accept it; I had invested too much time to give up, and I didn’t want to disappoint Eliana. So I tried everything to make it work. I took off beads. I made the knots on the ends smaller. I tried to stretch the wire. And then finally, somehow I found a way to hook the bracelet, but just barely.
I was relieved until I heard a yell from the playroom five minutes later. I ran in to find Eliana, and Ariela, my then 3 year old, looking at the floor. Not only had the bracelet popped off, all the beads were now buried in our carpet!
Missing material
The bottom line was simple: The bracelet just didn’t fit. It didn’t matter what we did, there was not enough material to work with: We did not have enough wire to make the bracelet.
The same is true when we try to do great things in our lives by spending our energy focusing on our weaknesses: We get coached, we get trained, we get motivated, we get inspired, but there’s only so much we can do. Why? There’s just not enough material to work with; that’s a principal reason why they’re weaknesses.
Read the complete post here.
