Don't Try to Be "Well-Rounded"

Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, we're going to talk about cultivating your strengths versus eliminating your weaknesses. There's a big emphasis in our culture on being well-rounded, as if this is the epitome of success. So if you imagine yourself as a star, let's say, you might think of the edges of the star as your strengths. And where it dips in might be your weaknesses.

And although we might not typically think of it through this symbol, much of what we try to do is pull out the dips so that we're more of a circle and this would be considered well-rounded. And think about it for yourself. When you think of improving your life, if what comes up. Do you default to thinking about what you're not doing well and figuring out how to do it better? Or do you default to what you are doing well and how you can improve that? Both strategies are important, no doubt. And you can point to many scenarios where we have to evaluate what our weaknesses are and make sure they're not completely pulling us down.

But the research in positive psychology continues to show that when we put more emphasis on our strengths And develop these strengths it makes us more effective in the workplace in relationships. It makes us more happy, resilient. And you can check with your own experience, but it feels good to be attuned to what you're good at. And if you organize your life to use more of your strengths, at work and at home, it's a very different way to go about your life than constantly trying to eliminate and focus on your weaknesses. So my encouragement to you today is twofold.

One assess what your usual way about going about this is. Do you focus more on weaknesses or do you focus more on your strengths? And to if it's the former, what if instead of focusing so much on rounding out the dips in the star, you focused on sharpening the edges. If you need some help assessing what your strengths are, you can check out the book StrengthsFinder 2.0. Remember if you only focus on eliminating your weaknesses, you can never grow the gifts that you were given to offer the world. Thank you for your practice.

And I'll talk to you soon in the meditation. Take care.