I am sure you have all heard the phrase your strengths can be your weaknesses.
You are a quick thinker, but that might make you impulsive. You view yourself as being self-confident, but some might interpret it as arrogance. You always try to be positive, but many view your optimism as being unrealistic. You might view your patience as a virtue, but others might be frustrated by your indecisiveness.
The list goes on and on. There is nearly always a flip side to the coin, but it is interesting that we nearly always look at this phenomenon from this viewpoint.
Strengths can indeed be weaknesses, and we guard against succumbing to those weaknesses in certain circumstances.
However, it is rare that we view our weaknesses as potential strengths. In certain situations, this is equally true, but most of us fail to take advantage of it.
This seems counter-intuitive, but if you think about a few examples, actually, I believe that there is something in it. In your self-dialogue and your dialogue with others, start repackaging your weaknesses as strengths, and soon that is how others will perceive them too.
Imagine the following water cooler conversation between two colleagues talking about you:
“I can’t believe how stubborn he was in that meeting. He just stuck to his opinion and wouldn’t be moved by any argument. Sometimes you have to be a bit more flexible.”
“I agree, but at least he isn’t blind to it. I saw him stick to his guns and convince a supplier not to leave us the other day. A less determined person would have taken the easy route and walked out of the meeting.”
“I suppose that you can’t have it both ways. It is easy to poke holes at the weaknesses and then take the corresponding strengths for granted.”
Wouldn’t you love to give them more opportunities to see your weaknesses as strengths? If they do, you will be forgiven for the negative facets of your weaknesses far more often.
This is possible to do from a place of humility and self-awareness.
When you are talking about your day, be sure to throw into the conversation how stubborn you were in that meeting, but explain why you behaved that way.
You chase what you believe in, and never give up. When people understand the reasons behind the behavior, they will be able to interpret your victories in the same way.
Your successful persuasion of the supplier was a result of the same behavior, but this time with a positive outcome.
You can’t have one without the other. If you are aware of your weaknesses, try to use them as strengths as often as possible, and you will find that the people around you become that little bit more forgiving.
I’d like to leave you with one last interesting thought to ponder.
Our “weaknesses” are the most natural behaviors that we have. We all work hard to develop our strengths, but our weaknesses are naturally there. They are part of what makes us who we are.
We may have been a little stubborn all our lives, but to turn this into dedication isn’t such a big step. On the other hand, there may be other strengths that we aspire to have, where we don’t have a natural affinity. These are far harder to acquire.
The step from a weakness to strength isn’t a big one. Maybe that is where we should be focusing our self-development efforts rather than chasing unnatural targets.