There are many things that successful people do differently from those who don't become successful. Some of these make a great difference to your outcomes while others are not so important. One of the most important is how you handle your strengths and weaknesses.
Everybody has strengths and everybody has weaknesses or limitations. It has been the trend for quite a few years now to encourage people to work on their weaknesses so that they can improve themselves. It turns out though that this is a very bad strategy and makes it a lot harder for people to become successful.
There are two major problems with working on your weaknesses. The first is that it tends to take a lot of time to change weaknesses and the results are typically unsuccessful. Secondly, the time and energy you spend trying to change a weakness is far better spent capitalizing on your strengths.
Successful people tend not to spend time trying to change a weakness. They make sure that they know, admit and accept their weaknesses and limitations. Rather than wasting time trying to change them they adopt the strategy of risk managing them.
With risk management you put into place measures that will minimize any chance of your weaknesses or limitations becoming a problem for your success plans. Once the risk management strategy is in place you can concentrate on capitalizing on your strengths and opportunities.
The first step in this risk managing approach is to accept that no-one is perfect, and that includes you. There is nothing wrong with having weaknesses and limitations. It is a perfectly natural fact of life. In fact, if you believe that you don't have any weaknesses or limitations then it is time to examine yourself more objectively because they will be there. If you are unaware of your weaknesses and limitations, or fail to accept them, then you won't risk manage them and as a consequence you are opening the door for potential failure or at least running the risk of getting results that are well below your true potential.
Most people have difficulty with accepting the less attractive side of themselves because of a little three letter word called ego. Ego can be an asset when it is fueling a desire for achievement but it is a liability when you are attempting to make an honest and accurate assessment of yourself and your business.
Make a decision to step outside of ego whenever you are conducting an assessment. Ego can send you broke quicker than just about anything else.
Once you accept the facts it is time to design and implement your risk management strategy.
Designing a risk management strategy begins by answering two questions:-
- What problems may occur as a result of this weakness?
- What measures can I put into place to prevent or minimize the chance of those problems actually occurring?
Time for a practical exercise.
Write a list of your own weaknesses and limitations. While doing this be sure to step outside your ego and be as objective as you can be.
Next, take each item on your list and write a list of potential problems that might result if that particular item is not risk managed.
Finally, starting with the weakness that presents the biggest risk, think of as many answers as you can to the question; what measures can I put into place to prevent or minimize the chance of those problems actually occurring?
If you take the time to do this well then you will have a much better strategy than trying to change that weakness, and you will also be free to concentrate on capitalizing on your strengths.
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