Becoming familiar and realistic with your weaknesses is the first step in becoming your authentic self.
To identify your weaknesses, you must identify your strengths.
What is your personality type? I love the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator. It’s easy to comprehend and helpful in embracing me and others in their essence and glory.
One of my favorite sites to TAKE A FREE PERSONALITY TEST is from 16Personalities.com. For those of you who don’t believe in the science of personality tests, think of it as this … Just because it’s a self-reporting test, will still show you where the person taking the test is at this moment. That alone is information to work with.
I’ve found that hidden trauma can throw the test off, as can being in stressful situations. Even this information is helpful. The solution to getting to the place where your results resonate with you 100% is to take the test again after a few months and compare your results.
In reading your test results you’ll discover your strengths – and your weaknesses. If you do not embrace and celebrate your strengths, you will default to your weaknesses.
People that I have taken this test will tell me with embarrassment, what their strengths are. Hidden trauma will be behind any feelings of being a ‘fraud’ or guilty for having those strengths, by the way. For now … just celebrate what you have.
At the same time, your weaknesses are nothing to be ashamed of. When your weaknesses are more abundant than your strengths, you are living out of trauma and the toxic beliefs that you aren’t good enough, or can’t do anything right. Others often point out weaknesses as proof that you are a poor excuse for a human being. Again, this is hidden trauma.
For this blog post, though, I want to focus on weaknesses without the trauma that can flavor them. Your weaknesses are simply not your strengths.
“Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Delegate what you’re not good at.” – Simon Sinek
“The first step to change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” – Nathaniel Branden
Weaknesses are nothing to be ashamed of!
Know your weaknesses (don’t obsess about them) and recognize the opportunities they are gifting you with, because …
- Knowing your weaknesses helps you to identify relationships that complement yours, and helps you with those weaknesses
- It helps you to say “no” to anything that is not in your strengths
- It humbles you to accept that you are perfectly you – and not perfectly everyone else that has ever existed. (There is no such thing as perfect in a human being.)
- It introduces you to self-care, self-compassion, and acceptance so that you can rest in being yourself in your authentic and natural state.
Your weaknesses can become areas to strengthen and work on. A creative person who is strong in creativity is familiar with jumping from thought to thought and embracing out-of-the-box concepts. This is great for creating – but horrid for managing or administrating. Learning how to put things in order and sequences may be a weakness of yours in not knowing how to do this naturally, but it helps you to see what to work on – and who to team up with on projects.