You know how push factors and pull factors can dominate your life? The coronavirus pandemic pushed you to work from home, and now your growing garden and new mindfulness habits pull you to spend more time there. Or your line manager pushes you to achieve professional targets, while offering you a training opportunity to pull you towards greater self-development in the process…
Where do you find yourself, between all the pushing and the pulling?
This is where strengths-based coaching comes in. A strengths mindset starts here:
- You have talents and abilities in a unique combination
- What you develop, grows. Talents can become strengths.
- Working from your strengths develops your potential into your power
Yes, you can start by looking at your weaknesses. If you’re like me, you can probably count them more quickly than you can count your strengths. You can spend a lot of time focusing on reducing weaknesses and overcoming them. That’s pushing yourself. It’s not bad, but it is difficult – because what do you use to overcome your weaknesses? You’ve got it – you have to use your strengths.
So, consider starting with your strengths. Get to know your talents. Acknowledge what has worked for you, and what you have to build on. Take a good look into your personal toolbox. It doesn’t matter how many fantastic tools you have in there, nothing changes unless you use them. The first step is to find out what they are. Next is to strengthen them, understand how they work together, and then to use them.
My coaching process starts with pulling, by focusing on strengths. Personal development impacts performance, and self-knowledge is the first step towards intentionality. Some of my clients have told me they’re not 100% sure of what their goals are – they know what feels ‘wrong’ or ‘missing’, but not what fixes to use or where exactly to go from here. That’s the perfect time to start, and the perfect place to begin.
Spend a little time today reflecting on your strengths. You can find them by asking yourself a few questions:
What am I most proud of being able to do?
What do my friends say I’m really good at?
If I had to offer one piece of advice, I’d say “Never stop …”
Now, think of a way you’ve used each strength in the past. Where can it take you next? If you woke up next week feeling happy and content, what would have happened between now and then?
Start connecting the dots and you’ll be pulling yourself towards a new future.
If you’d like to talk more, please contact me.
Let me know what you think of these ideas in the comments below.
Hey Lara
The website looks great, and now you have your first post up too!
Well done!