Your Personal Christmas Present: Discovering Your Strengths

Discovering Your StrengthI just thought of a Christmas present you could treat yourself with. No, it is not chocolate :-). It is also not very expensive. But, it might give you a great possibility to round up 2013 and giving you a lookout into the New Year!

I am talking about a book which some of you might already know. In fact, I also recommended it in the Quick Start Guide. Have you heard of the book called the “Strengths Finder 2.0”?

It is a great book, which includes a simple test to help you discovering your strengths.

And it costs under 20 Euros (here in Germany). And about $14  in US Dollars.

Peanuts for what we get out of it, don’t you think?

Not only do I find it is great to (re-)discover your strengths for Christmas, I think it also shifts the focus away from your weaknesses. At least for a little while. I tend to focus too much on weaknesses, things I could do better. While I think it is good to improve, I think it is also necessary to focus on what you are already good at.

So, to give you a little overview:

  • 40 years of study of the human strengths are the sound basis of this test (done by Gallup, a research-based consulting company).
  • This study nails it down to 34 of the most common strengths a human being can have (You’ll see my top 5 strengths below).
  • Your strengths out of those 34 talent groups, you will get to discover by answering questions in the test.
  • The book itself helps you afterwards to understand them and to develop them further, if you wish.
  • Millions of people have already taken the test.
  • The book itself has been on bestseller lists for several years.

To give you an idea, I want to share my personal results of the Strengths Finder 2.0 assessment, even though it is a few years back when I did it. I still find the results are valid. Here are My Top 5 Strengths according to this test:

  1. Achiever
  2. Problem solver
  3. Responsibility
  4. Developer
  5. Empathy

I totally see myself in four of these, so, I think this test is pretty accurate!

What the test is not:
  • True for every situation. The nature of most tests is that they take a short snapshot of your current opinion and perceptions within a particular time frame. This test takes less than one hour. You are likely to give different answers that you would give in a year’s time for instance.
  • A life-long recipe. You develop. Linked to the point above. We all develop. So, our strength might get stronger, and we hopefully develop other strengths in future.
How it works:
  1. Purchase the book with the code. This is my Amazon link, if you want to purchase it there.
  2. Go to this page by Gallup to enter your code to start the test. (Note: Pick a day and time when you are at ease, and not under great time pressure).
  3. Do the test.
  4. Read the results. (Note: Reading out loud always helps to take in the information better. I am not an expert, but I heard that it is just the way our brain is wired to take in information better.)
  5. Use the content of the book to build upon these strengths. They provide instructions on how to move forward and use those strengths.

Your turn

If you treat yourself with this Christmas present, you will have a great resource at hand to help you to disclose your strengths. So, in case you do not own this book, and this is likely the case if you have read this far :-), please consider to take a look at it. Positive side effect, it will boost your ego, too!

Let me know in the comments what you think of this treat for yourself!

 

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