One of the most difficult challenges women face in achieving personal growth is to adequately identify and acknowledge their strengths. If you find that you’re having trouble identifying your strengths in your personal or professional life, it could be holding you back from amazing opportunities to grow in your career and in your relationships. Not to mention lacking the ability to acknowledge your strengths has the potential to hinder your confidence and self-actualization.
More: 5 Reasons a digital detox could improve your sex life
Fortunately, there are simple ways you can start identifying your strengths. Here are the top five ways I’ve worked to discover and build upon my best traits!
1. Take a career strengths test
Just because these tests are typically used to determine your professional strengths doesn’t mean they can’t be useful in your personal life. Chances are, the strengths you’ve found in your career will overlap a bit as positive traits in your personal life as well.
For example, if a career strength test tells you that you are meant to lead, this might help you leverage your leadership strengths in casual settings to help plan get-togethers and vacations with friends. If this sounds like something you’d like to try out, The Muse has provided a resource with the 11 best career quizzes.
2. Understand your zodiac sign
For those of you who are skeptical of zodiac logic, this might seem like a silly step. However, understanding the meaning behind your zodiac sign can help you get started on understanding your innate strengths. For example, I’ve always been complimented as someone with a vast imagination and a creative personality. Looking at my horoscope helped me understand more about this strength as a Cancer as I got older. Knowing that creativity is an innate strength of mine has definitely helped guide my career as a writer.
To use your sign’s strengths to guide your personal growth, check out zodiac sign meanings to understand where your strengths lie. Then compare your strengths to other signs to see why and how yours differ.
More: 5 Tools that make Netflix binge-watching even more glorious
3. Analyze why you like the activities you do
Not every activity you love will necessarily become one of your greatest strengths; however, analyzing why you favor certain activities over others might help you understand where your strengths lie. If you find that you enjoy interacting with clients or chatting with coworkers at the office, this probably means that you’re an outgoing person in your personal life who can use this trait to help introduce new friends to one another and meet new people yourself. If you’re a bit more closed off but enjoy working on your own to achieve a goal, this independence could prove handy when you decide to take on new projects around the house.
4. Pay attention to compliments
Although focusing too much on what others think about you can be a detriment, simply noticing the personality traits you tend to be complimented on most can be a good thing. While you’re in the process of determining your strengths, try to take careful notice of the compliments you receive on a regular basis. Is there a pattern? How could you translate that pattern to determine your strengths?
5. Find out what you like about yourself
The tools and tips above will help you get started, but the most critical step is looking internally to determine your best qualities. Ask yourself what qualities of yours shine in tough situations and why you think that is. Complimenting yourself can be tricky, but the first four steps should help you prepare yourself to start noticing and acknowledging your best qualities in this step. If you find that you’re still having trouble determining your own strengths, take a look at this list and narrow down the traits that apply to you most.
I hope these tips will help you as you start the process of identifying your personal strengths to further develop yourself in your professional and personal life. If you have any tips you’d like to share with other readers, I’d love to hear them! Let me know in the comments below.
More Stories from Living
Leave a Comment