Posted on November 3, 2010 by Philip Skogsberg
At some point during a job interview the interviewer is likely to ask you about your weaknesses, in an attempt to learn about your degree of self-awareness perhaps. While this attempt might give some answers the opposite is also just as true. In fact, I would argue that it is even harder to really know what your true strengths are and that these are more important to know about for you future employer than your weaknesses.
Lets define strength, what do I mean when I use that word in this context? Well, to me, a strength is something that you have as a person and which helps you in accomplishing tasks and doing things well. It is the kind of thing that when you are doing something that is supported by your strength, time goes by really fast and you're having a great time. However, it isn't necessarily something that you're good at. A skill that you have acquired through practice might be something you loath doing but do anyway for a myriad of reasons. Something like this can in fact be a weakness in the sense that it stops you from doing what you really enjoy, therefore it is not a strength.
I would say that a strength is not really a specific skill set or a specific thing you do, rather, a strength is a part of your personality that supports every day tasks. This means that when you undertake a task or when you do something that is supported by one or many of your strengths, it will be fun and easy and time will fly.
Discovering ones strengths is not easy and few people can easily pin point them. Learning and understanding what it is that constitutes ones strengths is a process that can take many years and I would most say most people who do know about their strengths have learned this through having lived a long time. However, I'm confident that everyone can start to unearth their strengths at any moment. A start would be to start thinking about what you're actually doing when you know you're having a great time and time goes by quickly. What strengths might you be playing to at those moments? Take the time to write it down as well.
Personally, I think my strengths have something to do with communicating with people and helping/supporting them. And whenever I do something to that extent, I feel happy.
Your weakness are in some sense the exact opposite of your strengths. They are the things that when you do them, you're bored and time passes by slowly. Furthermore, they also make you feel unfulfilled and dissatisfied if you let them control you. A weakness is generally speaking what makes you do things badly or more specifically what does not support the things you do in a positive way.
It is generally very hard or perhaps impossible to change one's weaknesses. They are a part of a person's personality. I find it more fruitful to enhance one's strengths instead and avoid the weaknesses. However, this does not mean ignoring those things that you might be bad at or the things that you perceive as your weaknesses, but If you use your strengths and the things that you enjoy doing and do well you are able to circumvent the things that hold you back without neglecting them. If you where to neglect them or not attend to them at all, they continue to hold you back and hinder your progress. But this is not the same thing as avoiding them. Avoiding them means that you actively do things that help you not do the things that weakens you or that you do not enjoy what so ever.
An example would be this: I am slightly bad at structuring my time and I am what I would call a "time optimist", in other words, I'm usually running late to a lot of my meetings and appointments. Not because I don't care but because I regard my time as more plentiful than it actually is. In order to deal with this weakness of mine (it might be both a weakness and strength depending on the situation) there's no point in trying to change the way I am or to change my personality – it is, as I said earlier, quite hard if not impossible. What I can do though, is to use my strengths or any other means of avoiding to fall in the old patterns that derive from my weaknesses. In the above example that might be as simple as to plan ahead and give myself more time to do the things I have to do before leaving home and to travel to the meeting or appointment. This effectively helps me avoid some of the problems and instead do things a bit differently. I am still bad at structuring my time and I am still a time optimist, but by giving myself an extra 10 minutes to read the newspaper or an extra 5 minutes to wake up, I accounted for the extra time that I usually end up taking and thus I avoid the problem all together. This might even lead to me changing my habits (bad habits), which are easier to change than one's personality, and make the problem practically disappear.
Bad habits are usually caused by weaknesses and should be dealt with by creating new habits that are instead supported by the strengths we posses. Good habits are built on our strengths and will make us happier.
Please comment if you have any thoughts or questions and if you disagree with me then comment as well. Maybe we'll all learn something!
- Philip
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