Recognize Your Strengths

Recognize Your Strengths

The word ‘Strengths’ evokes a positive response or meaning in our minds signifying qualities both physical and mental that one could perform and is of genuine interest to oneself.

Knowing exactly, what one is capable of doing, tends to boost one’s self-confidence and hopes are held high to execute better. 

Discovering your strengths enables you to determine your future aims, plan for success, and do time management effectively. Focusing on your strengths enables you to cope well in difficult times, in stress or adversities  and help you to be resilient. Therefore, it’s important to know and focus on your strengths and abilities. 

Here are a few ways through which one can try to discover one's core strengths.

Know Your Passion: Work that drives you intrinsically to consummate, cherish and let you be creative may define your passion for it to some extent. Activities that naturally motivate yourselves to strive for perfection, go with the flow,  let you be fully engaged and involved could be your passion for it. Being passionate about your work is one of the determinants to discover your strengths.

Frequency and Time Spent: If an individual tends to carry out  activity of one’s choice within a fixed regular routine and feels a sense of accomplishment, then this may indicate your strength in it. Also, frequently sparing time to indulge into your favourite activity and striving really hard in mastering the skills leads to unravelling your strength in that field. Activities that you tend to relish even amongst your busy schedules and find it mentally relaxing could be your inner strength to carry out that particular activity with ease and be more productive.

Acknowledging Qualities: Qualities that one possesses, can have a great impact on one’s perception about self and on developing personality as an entity. If one is known by and praised for his/her particular set of quality/qualities such as being a philanthropic, social worker, leadership qualities, etc. amongst friends, relatives, respected elders, in community and is embedded in one’s own belief system, then acceding to it, would not only build your self-esteem but also helps to know your personality attributes. 

Source for Relaxation: Having access to plenty of resources, when one tends to practice a particular habit such as indulging into philosophical readings or staging dramas, etc., because it’s a constant source for mental and physical relaxation then it may be indicative of one’s genuine interest and core strengths. Your inclinations to carry out any activity with great fervor as it revitalizes you in search of your inner quest could be your strengths. 

Unfeigned Endeavour: if an individual puts in sincere efforts to nurture one’s prowess through finding several ways and means speaks volumes about one’s desires to be an expert in that activity. Desiring to learn through enrolling in various courses to strive for perfection and to horn on one’s skills could be your strengths for that activity. 

Experimented and Creative: if one is ready to explore and experiment with one’s thoughts and ideas for learning new techniques to master skills, for example, experimenting with cooking, drawing, weaving, composing music, taking risks in stocks exchange, newer methods of poetic expressions, etc., can help to identify one’s strengths. Indulging and carving creative tools to refine on cherished aims could be your signature strengths.

To conclude, knowing one's strengths  may open new horizons for self-  connectedness,self-management, higher  self-esteem and to achieve greater heights in both personal and professional lives.

By: Bhavna Mukund

Clinical Psychologist