Success = leveraging your superpower

What is your superpower? Sometimes in coaching, people come to the process thinking that they will see greater success once they overcome their weaknesses. Sure, there are some weaknesses that are deal-breakers, but the number of them is far smaller than is the number of traits that are not really weaknesses at all, but rather non-strengths. Your leveraged strengths are your key to better performance and more satisfaction. Why invest your time and energy going from a level 3 to a level 5 on a non-strength when you could be developing yourself from a level 7 to a level 9 in your superpower?

There are a number of assessments that can provide data for you on your talents, strengths, mental attributes, etc. For today, let's just answer a few questions:

• What is the innate talent and/or developed skill that you have seen work on your behalf?
• What results-generating tasks do you enjoy doing? Why are they enjoyable to you?
• In what behaviors are you most consistent?
• What do you choose to do regularly, even though the only reward is in the task itself?
• Are there activities in which you lose yourself into complete concentration (sometimes referred to as flow).
• Is there something you do that has generate positive feedback or compliments from others?

Your answers to these questions should lead you to some of your strengths.

Talent - Skill - Strength

These three concepts are related, but not the same. Think of talent as innate, inborn, something that you do naturally. Skill is acquired through training, and you can train yourself in the steps needed to do certain tasks even if you don't have a natural aptitude for doing them. The level of performance doesn't approach the superpower level, though, unless start with talent, hone it through training and development, then apply it. 

Strength, well developed, can appear effortless when you see it in action. When you observe it in other people, though, you likely won't see the process that refined the talent into its current level of effectiveness.

Using Strength More Often

How can you realign your roles so you can be spending more of your time and energy using (and continuing to maximize) your strengths? Can you delegate some things? Outsource? Choose another method that draws more from your performance sweet spot? If you're way out of alignment, you might need to make some bigger changes. But when you're there you'll know it, because work won't feel like work. When you leverage your superpowers you make work feel like play.