March 21, 2025•4 min read
If you aren’t already familiar with your strengths, this is your opportunity to supercharge your self-awareness to know yourself much more deeply. You can then take that knowledge and apply it to manage your thinking, feelings, and actions. When you can apply your strengths consistently, you’ll reach a zone I call self-mastery. You’ll be fully ‘Powered Up’ and taking advantage of these amazing resources you have called strengths.
Using your strengths makes better use of your energy; it takes more energy to do things that are not in our strengths zone. Using our strengths energises and excites us. When we use our strengths we are more likely to be in a flow state where things feel effortless. This doesn’t mean you won’t tire or feel fatigue. It means that you’re optimising the energy you have. When we overuse, misuse or don’t use our strengths we’re leaking or wasting energy. When we try to fix our weaknesses or do things that are just not our strengths, it takes far more effort.
Strengths allow you to be the most authentic version of you; you’re not trying to be someone else. You are embracing what makes you, YOU. When we can go through the world being more of ourselves, we can direct our energy in positive ways. This means better self-esteem, better relationships with others, better results at work and much more.
You are at your best when you (skilfully) use your strengths; you’re using the tools that best suit you. You wouldn’t use a screwdriver to hammer in a nail. Tapping into strengths allows you to use the right tool at the right time, with the right intensity.
Strengths give you a short-cut to reframing negative self-talk; swap ‘I’m no good’ or ‘I suck at this’ for ‘I have other strengths’ or ‘this isn’t a strength for me’. This reframing allows you to adopt a growth mindset, opening up opportunities for learning and positive change. Swap self-judgement for developing your personal superpowers by tapping into strengths.
Deliberately using your strengths increases your mindfulness and presence; when we first start to know and use our strengths, we need to apply them in a thoughtful and deliberate way. After some practice, our skilful use of strengths will come more naturally. While we are in this practice phase, we need to mindfully consider which strength to use and in what way. This isn’t something we can do when we are distracted or ‘off with the fairies’.
When you are at your less-than-best it’s still because of your strengths. Weaknesses or poor outcomes are often the result of overusing or misusing strengths. Understanding how your strengths can get in your way, and how to manage them, is a key to using strengths more deliberately and skilfully for better results.
Knowing our strengths gives us a vocabulary to ‘sell’ ourselves or explain our skills and qualities to others. This is useful across so many areas of our life. It gives you an edge when you’re applying for a job, asking for a pay rise, negotiating personal relationships or anything else you want or need to tackle.
Strengths allow you tosee other people in less annoying wayshave better relationships. When others grate on our nerves we can put on our ‘strengths goggles’ and ask ourselves “What strengths am I seeing in this person? Are they different to mine? Am I seeing an overused or misused strength?”. This shifts us from judgement to curiosity and empathy and allows our brain to calmly and more objectively engage with the other person.
Knowing our strengths makes it clear what we bring to a team or collective of people. Knowing others’ strengths in a team, partnership or family, gives us all a roadmap of how we can come together and maximise the collection of strengths available to us.
Strengths are our best friend when we have to confront and tackle life’s challenges. We can draw on our strengths as handy ‘tools’ as well as taking care of ourselves in ways that best suit our natural way of being.
For more about getting the most from your strengths (aka Superpowers) check out mybook. When you’re ready to supercharge your personal and professional success, check out mycoaching and development programs.
Get in touch if you’d like to add to my list of ten reasons to tap into strengths. I’d love to hear from you!
