“It’s a clear, crisp morning…
A day when the brilliant sun warms and calms the soul.
Outside my window a fox is darting at full speed to avoid a neighbors dog, a powerful, but less agile challenger.
In nature, we see that every creature is gifted with specific natural strengths to help them live more successfully.”
The Gifts We Are Given
Unlike other animals, one of the more difficult things for us human beings, seems to be figuring out what our most powerful strengths are.
The StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment actually identifies 34 of our individual strengths.
But our top five dominant strengths provide the most powerful ability to accelerate our success. The other 29 act as valuable, supportive contributors, but have less potential to make us great.
So our goal is to help you leverage your most powerful five.
Genetic “Power Tools”
Our unique strengths are part of the tool kit we were given to help us live a better life.
To get a little “cosmic,” at birth each of us were given a set of dominant strengths specifically chosen to help us evolve our spirit to its next level.
The more we develop these natural strengths, the more rapidly we evolve our spirit in meaningful ways.
These core strengths are also the cornerstone of what brings the most meaning into our daily lives.
Whenever we feel like we’re supposed to be doing “something else” with our lives, it’s likely because we are doing things that are disconnected from the unique natural strengths we were born to develop.
They’re essentially the fulfillment “measuring stick” for our gut feelings.
Uncovering Our Joy
For most of us, these core tools often sit unnoticed and undeveloped. It’s difficult for us to assess what our own strengths are, unless they show up in an obvious way in our lives.
But just because we don’t recognize our natural strengths, doesn’t mean they’re not there.
In fact, Gallup’s research found that when people had their strengths scientifically assessed at a young age and then again later in life, most often at least three of their top five dominant strengths remained the same.
Now that you’ve taken the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment, at whatever stage in life you’re at, for the first time you’re getting the rare opportunity to look at a section of your own personal “Owners Manual.”
And for the first time, you get to start putting your new awareness to work creating a life that loves you back.
Getting Paid To Use Our Strengths
Living a successful, fulfilling life requires integrating the application of our natural strengths into what the world is willing to pay us to do.
Many gurus tell us “do what you love and the money will follow.”
In most of real life, that’s simply not true.
We need to make the connection between where we are naturally gifted and where the world has recognized the value of financially rewarding us for using those gifts.
Not doing so will significantly limit our ability to serve others, grow as a person, and most importantly, live a happy life.
Living a happy life doesn’t require being rich at all.
But feeling successful and fulfilled is difficult to achieve without removing money from being a daily distraction from that goal.
Remember, the only people who say “money doesn’t matter,” are people who have enough of it to make their life work.
Here’s a simple diagram of that strategy:
It’s as practical and basic as that.
Look closely at the many ways your top five strengths can be applied to real world needs.
It could be a businesses job requirements list, the skills needed to complete a project, the people you interact with that need your strengths to help accomplish their projects or goals.
Your gifts were given to you specifically to enhance your life in a variety of ways.
Without the financial means to grow them, your life can be neither successful or fulfilling.
No one has been given gifts the world does not need.
We might believe otherwise when we are thinking too narrowly about how our gifts could be applied.
Look more broadly. Imagine ways you could use your strengths to help others.
Think about where in life your strengths could be solving issues, bringing clarity, transforming barriers into connections.
Break out of the tunnel we all imagine is the only path to choose and seek the people and work that need your strengths to make their goals a reality.
That’s when you get the opportunity to make yours come to life, at the same time.
Never stop moving forward,
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