Last night, I sent e-mails to a number of our friends and colleagues. When I tried to send one of them, the e-mailer choked on a bad address. I got flustered and had to re-send the item. Only after I watched it disappear from my "Out" box did I realize that the second copy had gone on without a subject line. This was followed by the usual self talk: "What a dumb thing to do!" "Now what are you going to do?" "People will think it's spam and delete it before they read it!"
If I spent half as much time congratulating myself on the things I do well as I do criticizing myself for minor slip-ups, I'd have a sore arm from patting myself on the back. Not to worry: personal history tells me that's not about to happen. So, in this reflection I want to think about my strengths.
The point is that so much of what we do in the line of change is so negative! In spite of all I have learned about myself and how the world works, I still focus on trying to fix what's wrong -- and feel guilty about having so many areas of my life that still need work. All the literature, as well as all my personal experience, shows that progress comes, not from fixing what's (supposedly) broken, but by focusing on what I'm doing right.
The flip side of that coin is that I can accept that I can't do everything perfectly. That's where you come in. There's an old saying that goes, "I can't; but we can." If I really want to make purposeful change, I have to take that seriously and be willing to do what may be the toughest thing in the life of any professional: ask for help. Appreciating my own talents, knowledge, and skills is only half of it. Appreciating that I have people in my life who are willing and able to offer their time and energy non-judgmentally to add their value to my work is vitally important.
I know that I have talents, knowledge and skills that my friends and colleagues can benefit from, too. Being available for them is a critical life choice. This give-and-take of strengths I call "social economy": the law of supply and demand applied to team efforts. It maximizes our individual strengths and minimizes our individual weaknesses. When it's present, purposeful change becomes turbo-charged. That's what I want in my life for today.
Leading with Your Strengths - To learn more about this author, visit Les Brown's Website.
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Les Brown
(Visit Les's Website)
H. Les Brown, MA, CFCC grew up in an
entrepreneurial family and has been an
entrepreneur for most of his life. He is
the author of The
Frazzled Entrepreneur's Guide to Having It
All. Les is a certified Franklin Covey
coach and a certified Marshall Goldsmith
Leadership Effectiveness coach. He has
Masters Degrees in philosophy and theology
from the University of Ottawa. His
experience includes ten years in the
ministry and over fifteen years in
corporate management. His expertise as an
innovator and change strategist has
enabled him to develop a program that
allows his clients to effect deep and
lasting change in their personal and
professional lives.
You can experience Les' frazzled alter
ego, Auntie Cyclone, by visiting her
website at http://www.ProActivation.com.
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