Guess what? Using your strengths to your professional - and personal - advantage is much easier than you’d ever expect. So, as we enter into 2018, creating many resolutions for our lives, let's ask one question: Are you using your strengths to your advantage? In this post, we’ll look into what understanding your strengths means to you and your career!

What Are Strengths?

First, let's acknowledge that strengths are people’s naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior; all of which can be productively applied to an individual's life personally and professionally. So, let's dive into 3 ways your strengths can impact you professionally and tangibly. Why are they important to your career?

#1 Saves You Time:

When you understand your strengths, you will save yourself time. Why? Because when you know what you’re good at, this happens:

• You know how to approach situations: Situations take on a new meaning when you understand your strengths. The organization, contextualization, and task creation will all be created in your favor. Why? Because you will understand how to do it.
• You know how to handle your team: Understanding your strengths isn’t only about you; it’s about your team too. When you understand your naturally recurring behaviors, you’ll understand how to utilize your team to compliment yourself and to complement them. This benefits everyone.
• You know what you’re not good at: Shocker. You’re not great at everything. By understanding what you’re exceptionally talented at, you’ll also uncover what you’re not. In this, you will identify opportunities for self-improvement, and self-assessment; as well as when and where you need help.

#2 Boosts Your Emotional Confidence:

Understanding yourself provides you self-confidence, which leads to emotional confidence. This happens for a few reasons that include:

• Strengths provide affirmation: You’ve probably heard the phrase “finding yourself” at some point in your life. When this happens, you’re provided with a positive affirmation about who you are, why you’re wired that way, and how to utilize it to your advantage; all of which provide beneficial and positive reinforcement.
• Strengths provide understanding: Tony Robbins says it this way: “To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.”
• You’re in control: We hear it all the time, I don’t feel in control of my career; it’s driving me. Well, when you utilize your strengths to your advantage you actually can take control of your career, your position, and your goals.

#3 Gives You Accurate Information:

Knowledge is power, it always has been. However, strengths take knowledge to another level by giving us context and understanding; providing you with self-awareness. This enables you to:

• Build on your positive qualities: Understanding the correct information about yourself will help you build on your positive qualities. For example, if you’re an achiever, you might need to give yourself something specific to achieve (i.e. some goals and objectives). Remember, it’s great to play to your strengths and how you’re wired.
• Take control of your response to your circumstances: Circumstances will always be changing, but when you are self-aware, you can better plan ahead for your responses. This means you’re in control, even when your circumstances are out of your control. In essence, you’ll be able to calculate risks appropriately and with understanding.
• Create and achieve your own relevant goals: You’re unique. Make sure you create unique - and relevant - goals for yourself. Guess what? When you create relevant goals, you’re also more prone to accomplish them.

We'd love to hear from you, how have you used your strengths to your advantage in your career?