Focus on Your Strengths

It's a new year and a great opportunity for people to start with a clean slate. Knowing what you know now, will your approach change at all?

I have always felt that people should focus on their strengths as opposed to their weaknesses, regardless of what they're trying to do. In the last post, we used golf as an analogy, saying that if you can improve your short game (putting and chipping) so it becomes a strength of yours, your overall game (score) will likely improve.

Think about your strengths and weaknesses. Do you enjoy doing the things you scored high in the self assessment on? Are they things you are good at, have fun focusing on and bring value to your career or clients? How about the weaknesses? Would you be okay if you didn't have to do them at all? Could you find ways to still succeed by delegating those tasks or duties?

I'd Like to Recommend a Book

As you kick off 2009, I'd like to recommend a book for you to find and read. It's called Now, Discover Your Strengths and it's written by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton. It really digs into the how and why of people's strengths and weaknesses and what you can do to maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.

In the book, Buckingham and Clifton define a strength as somethings that can be done with "consistent, near perfect performance." Think of your real estate business. What are the daily tasks and activities that you can do consistently with near perfect performance?

They go on to say that people need to “capitalize on your strengths and manage around your weaknesses.” Let's take technology as an example. If technology isn't your strong point, can you find ways to succeed in spite of it? Maybe take a successful agent to lunch and ask them how they became successful before fax machines, digital cameras and the Internet. Trust me, it can be done.


The authors posit that the “acid test” of a strength is “...only if you can fathom yourself doing it repeatedly, happily and successfully.” What are those things that you must face every day that you wouldn't mind doing repeatedly, happily and successfully?

What Matters Most?

If you ask me, make the things that matter like treating people with respect, following up with a personal touch in a frequest, consistent manner and having a genuine excitement to help people strengths and the rest will take care of itself.

What are you waiting for? Order the book now, read it, discover your strengths and start doing things that you want to do repeatedly, happily and successfully.