On Strengths and Weaknesses
Hello everyone,
How many times have you attended interviews where you were asked to describe your strengths and weaknesses?
After conducting numerous interviews, I often find even the most experienced candidates struggle with this question.
In reality, your actual answer is less relevant than how self-aware you are with your strengths and weaknesses. It’s also valuable to understand how a candidate has attempted to cultivate their strengths and overcome their weaknesses.
For the latter, we must first acknowledge that our weaknesses exist. A good way to identify your weaknesses is to ask a trusted person for their opinion. This could be a close friend, family member or colleague.
Another great source is to reflect on your feedback from previous performance reviews or speak to bosses you’ve had in the past.
Once you acknowledge it, overcoming it becomes a matter of commitment and discipline.
Here are few personal thoughts:
If you know you aren’t good at something, you must overcompensate with excellent preparation.
With thorough preparation, you build up confidence to overpower your weaknesses. And making that a habit will become a great strength.
Our weaknesses do not make us weak. They are opportunities for us to become stronger.
Seek help from people who have overcome similar weaknesses. Their experiences will help you accelerate the process of growth.
Don’t compare your strength and weaknesses with those of others.
They are not to be envied, they are to be learned from for your own growth.
When you reflect deeply and create a detailed plan, your strengths and weaknesses start to matter less. What then matters is your habits and purpose. You are here to try your best to achieve what you want.
And always remember, you don’t have to know or learn everything instantly. You just have to be confident about your weaknesses and ask for help when needed.
And with your strengths, cultivate them often. A great way to do that is to teach others how you attained that strength. It will make you even better.
And finally, always have self-compassion. You are stronger than you give yourself credit for.
Act
Identify one weakness today and make a detailed plan to turn it into a strength within the next 12 months.
If you found this useful, please share this with your family, friends, and colleagues to give them a little boost too.
That’s all from me today. I wish you all the best in the week ahead.
Jayaraj
(Follow me on Linkedin and Twitter for more advice on career growth and success)
Well said sir.....thanks for sharing
Profound words. Thanks for sharing, Jayaraj.