What Are My Strengths

...a person can perform only from strength.

Most people think they know what they are good at.  They are usually wrong.  More often, people know what they are not good at--and even the then more people are wrong than right.  And yet, a person can perform only from strength.  One cannot build performance on weaknesses, let alone on something one cannot do at all. 

Throughout history, people had little need to know their strengths.  A person was born into a position and a line of work:  The peasant's son would also be a peasant; the artisan's daughter, an artisan's wife; and so on.  but now people have choices.  We need to know our strengths in order to know where we belong.

The only way to discover your strengths is through feedback analysis.  Whenever you make a key decision or take a key action, write down what you expect will happen.  Nine or 12 months later, compare the actual results with your expectations.  

Practiced consistently, this simple method will show you within a fairly short period of time, maybe two or three years, where your strengths lie--and this is the most important thing to know.  The method will show you what you are doing or failing to do that deprives your of the full benefits of your strengths.  it will show you where you are not particularly competent.  And finally, it will show you where you have not strengths and cannot perform.

ACTION POINT: Write down your expected outcomes of key decisions and compare them to the actual results nine or 12 months later.