You responded to last month's newsletter! So, before turning to this month's topic, I'll just let you know that our son's scholarship was reinstated following his appeal. We are thankful for this outcome.
Each year I have the privilege of working with our high school marching band - staff and students. I speak with the students at their "attitude sessions." This past week I challenged them to pursue the development of their strengths.
The goal of life is to become a mature version of yourself. It is NOT to spend one's life trying to become someone you are not, and yet that's what many people do. They focus on overcoming their weaknesses rather than on developing their strengths.
We need to make a distinction. Debilitative weaknesses that are holding you back need to be addressed (e.g., being an alcoholic), but complementary weaknesses are opportunities to rely on the strengths of others in your areas of need (e.g., my hiring a car mechanic).
Why do people struggle with the development of their strengths? Because strengths are often transparent - we don't see them. If you are a member of the Centerville Jazz Band (our high school marching band) you may see others who are more gifted musically. But the band represents a small fraction of the high school's total student population and so you are already in the top percentages of students musically (while some non-band members are musically inclined, most are not).
 Additionally, most people follow their strengths to the plateau of "good enough" where they are surrounded by others who are also good enough. What they neglect to do is to persevere, to continue climbing to the pinnacle of excellence where there are far fewer peers.
 The key to developing any area of strength is to recognize one's natural abilities, to seek out the best training possible, and to invest in practice.
You do not need to pursue excellence in every venue possible (i.e., every area in which you have natural ability). At the same time, you do not want to settle for good enough without exception. You should seek excellence in at least one area of strength.
So continue investing time, money, effort into climbing to life's pinnacle and encourage others along the way since many of them haven't yet recognized their strengths for what they are.
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Thanks for reading and thanks for your comments!
You can understand each other - really!
Dr. Stephen Julian
Copyright © 2013 by Dr. Stephen Julian. All rights reserved. |
