Work From Your Strengths. Train Up Your Weaknesses.

Work From Your Strengths(strenTH). Train Up Your Weaknesses.

By Steve Pavlina

One of the most important personal development principles is that your weakest area(ˈe(ə)rēə) will limit your ability to take advantage of your strongest area. The various(ˈve(ə)rēəs) parts of our lives — physical(ˈfizikəl), mental(ˈmentl), social, spiritual — are deeply interwoven(ˌin(t)ərˈwoven), and we cannot simply consider each part in isolation(ˌīsəˈlāSHən).

People often identify themselves with their strongest area: I’m an athlete(ˈaTHˌlēt) (physical). I’m a geek(gēk) (mental). I’m a party animal (social). I’m a Christian(ˈkrisCHən) (spiritual). But then they may fall into the trap of allowing their other areas to lag(lag) behind.

While capitalizing(ˈkapədlˌīz) on your strengths is good advice, your ability to do that will largely be determined by how you handle your weaknesses. A dumb(dəm), unfocused athlete is unlikely to do as well as a smart one. An anti(ˈantē,ˈanˌtī)-social athlete will miss out on the chance to be part of a team. And an athlete who experiences spiritual chaos(ˈkāˌäs) may lapse(laps) into drugs, steroid(ˈsterˌoid,ˈsti(ə)r-) use, or immoral(-ˈmärəl,i(m)ˈmôrəl) behavioral that ultimately(ˈəltəmətlē) hurts his/her body.

Consider each possible pairing of physical, mental, social, and spiritual and notice how each element can help or hinder(ˈhindər,ˈhīndər) any of the others.

It’s tempting(ˈtem(p)tiNG) to continue working on our strengths while ignoring our weaknesses. Our most important results will often come from our strengths — that’s true. However, the best way to improve those results is often to work on our weakest areas. This helps us in two ways: First, by shoring(ˈSHôriNG) up our weak areas, we prevent them from getting in the way of our strengths. Secondly, if we take it far enough, we can turn those weak areas into secondary(ˈsekənˌderē) strengths that augment our primary(ˈprīm(ə)rē,ˈprīˌmerē) strength.

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https://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/03/work-from-your-strengths-train-up-your-weaknesses/