Strengths and Weaknesses

​Everyone has strengths. It is important to identify them so you can use them to your advantage. For example, they can help you excel at something. Likewise, everyone has weaknesses. They don't need to be obstacles. You want to identify your weaknesses so that you can create strategies to overcome them or use them to your advantage. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dominant hand vs less dominant hand (click the image)​

 

Just like your less dominant hand, weaknesses do not need to be obstacles. Let's say that you are a right handed person. Your left hand will make it so much easier to grab the bottle while you are opening the cap of a water bottle. Without your left hand, it's much harder to open a bottle with only your right hand no matter how strong your right hand is. As such, your weaknesses help your strengths, or vice versa. Moreover, you can work on strengthening your left hand by using it more often to grab a fork to eat or whisk to bake, and you will be able to use it more fluently like the dominant right hand. That's why it's important not only to identify your strengths but also to identify your weaknesses. 

By identifying weaknesses, we can also convert the weaknesses into strengths. They can strategize it to work it to their advantage. For example, I can say, "I am a poor speller, so I have to proofread carefully." But when I proofread, I usually catch other mistakes, too. This makes my writing stronger than it might be if I were a good speller." Doctors who specialize in a particular area will work with other specialists to treat patients more comprehensively and effectively. Foot doctors cannot do heart surgery, as they don't have much knowledge about the other field. So the foot doctors fix broken ankles while they ask heart surgeons to work on heart attacks.  

Successful, respected people can always identify both their strengths and their weaknesses. It's what enables them to focus on doing what they do best, and to work with others who have strengths in areas in which they are weak. 

 

 

 

 

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Thomas Edison

During his school days, Thomas Edison was known to have a wavering mind. His focus was poor and he had difficulty with speech and words. But with all these conditions, Edison became a prolific inventor and businessman, holding 1093 patents in the U.S., United Kingdom, France and Germany. His inventions include electric lights, sound recording, and motion pictures.