Simplify Your Life’s Weblog

It’s funny how difficult people find it to list their own talents, skills & strengths.  As if being aware of what you are good at is something to be ashamed of.  Is it a lack of confidence?  Low self-esteem?  I’ve seen this with the client focus form I use with my clients to prepare for their next coaching session, which asks them to list accomplishments toward their goal AND the skill/talent that it took to accomplish it.  The purpose being to get them focusing on their strengths as a way of life – another step toward mindful living.  It proves to be a challenge for many to answer this.

A tool I use with the clients who find it a challenge is simply writing a list of what their personal assets are – skills, talents, strengths.  When this is difficult to start, I encourage them to either consider something they are proud of accomplishing and how they were able to do that or think about what others say are their personal assets.  However it is important that they also write down some from their own thoughts. 

When even this proves to be difficult, a really useful tool is to encourage them to buy “Strengths Finder 2.0″ by Tom Rath.  There is an online questionaire that you complete and it tells you what your strengths are based on that – they refer to them as your “Top 5 Themes”.  Not only that, it also tells you how you are different than other folks within your top themes AND offers you an action plan of how to work within those themes. 

You do need to buy the book because there is a specific code in the book that you will need to access the questionaire.  Also, the code is only good for 1 individual ….. so don’t buy it used unless you confirm that the code packet has not been cut open and/or the magic silvery stuff hasn’t been scratched off to reveal the code.