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Winning
With Your Strengths
If you're unhappy in your job, should you change your job? Should you find
a career that matches your abilities and interests? Here's how concentrating on your
talents can help you find happiness and success.
by Jerold Aust
Jake had always wanted to play college
basketball. But he soon discovered that "there were better ball players selling popcorn
and Cokes in the stands than some of us down on the basketball court. Once I figured
that out, I readjusted the focus on my future."
Meet Jake. In 1956, at age 18, he excelled in high-school basketball. He averaged
30 points a game during his last two years of high school and was recruited by large
and small universities. Jake was unusual in that he was only 6 feet tall but played
center on his team. Fans got excited watching him play because he showed good timing,
was quick, often outwitted his taller opponents and possessed an accurate soft jump
shot.
He stood out in high-school basketball, but in college he found himself outclassed.
College freshmen trying out for the teams needed height and superior ball handling.
Jake soon rethought his future in athletics.
He loved the game, but he couldn't realize his dream of playing college basketball,
so what could he do? He did the smart thing and studied to become a basketball coach.
Jake focused on something he could excel at, and success followed him.
There is more to Jake's story.
Well-meaning Advisers
No matter who or what you are, somebody will be quick to advise you on your life's
choices. Some unsolicited advice may be helpful, but much will not. A well-meaning
mother wants her daughter to do what she never could. The well-meaning father expects
his son to take over the family business.
Sometimes daughters and sons do follow in their mothers' and fathers' footsteps and
are perfectly happy and successful. But this is not always the case.
Advice is cheap, and it flows freely from family and friends. Some people have spent
years following a particular professional path but wish they could start all over
again down a different one. Does it do any good to regret the paths not taken, the
opportunities lost?
Not according to writers Carole Klein and Richard Gotti: "Regret, which is inextricably
linked to choice, has become a major malady of modern life. The more options there
are to choose from, the more options we must relinquish at the moment of choice.
As we choose more, we give up more, and create more 'might have beens' " (Carole
Klein and Richard Gotti, Ph.D., Overcoming Regret: Lessons From the Roads Not
Taken, 1992, p. 10).
The Gottis quote French novelist and Nobel Prize winner André Gide, who advises:
"It is a rule of life that when one door closes, another door always opens. Let us
not, therefore, mourn so much for the losses behind the closed door that we miss
the opportunities waiting for us beyond the newly opened door" (ibid., p. 9). Not
all of life's opportunities are stored behind door No. 1.
Although people tend to nurse regrets over jobs they should have taken, you shouldn't
be quick to change occupation, vocation or profession. Age, health, the economy,
personal solvency, family and other important factors can weigh heavily in your decision
to make such a significant change. Counselors advise seeking professional advice
and talking with people who have found themselves in similar situations.
That said, many people who have caught the job-changing bug will not be deterred
by sound advice. If you are one who is determined to embark on a new profession based
on your native talents and abilities, you can profit from some time-tested guidelines.
Following are some suggestions that can help.
This brief listing is not a one-size-fits-all panacea. Rather, think of these tips
as food for thought.
What Natural Talent?
At Gallup, Inc., pollsters studied 250,000 successful professionals. They determined
"that the highest levels of achievement come when people are matched with activities
that use their strengths" (Donald O. Clifton and Paula Nelson, Soar With Your
Strengths, 1992, p. 21). Many people decide they want to do something enjoyable
for a living. But sometimes that's easier said than done.
Sometimes a person's desire does not match his or her ability. In those cases, a
lifetime can be misspent struggling to seek satisfying success. Brian Tracy, who
conducts seminars on identifying strengths, advises: "You can't hit a target you
can't see. You can't accomplish wonderful things with your life if you have no idea
what they are. You must first become absolutely clear about what you want" (Brian
Tracy, Maximum Achievement, 1993, p. 21).
Some people do hone in on their target. They determine the tasks that come most naturally
to them. They succeed in their newly chosen field. Determination, outside help and
perseverance, along with happenstance, can make the difference when people match
their life's pursuit with their natural abilities. Daytime television shows occasionally
air such success stories, and it's exciting to see rags transform into riches when
ability and activity match up.
Former test pilot and United States Air Force general Chuck Yeager offers this advice
about matching ability with a career: ". . . Pick something you enjoy doing. Forget
the money angle, within reason. If you enjoy what you're doing, you'll adjust your
lifestyle to meet your income. And if you enjoy it well enough, you'll be outstanding
because you'll always like doing it" (Dennis Conner, The Art of Winning,
1989, p. 178).
Jake's example, of a short guy who loved basketball, supports Chuck Yeager's advice.
In his first year of college, after realizing he might not excel in his chosen sport,
he discovered he could apply his natural ability to a related field:
coaching - rather than playing - basketball.
Jake didn't complain that life wasn't fair. He took hold of other possibilities and
prepared himself to succeed. His second-chosen field gave him more opportunities
for his natural talents to grow.
Focus on Your Deepest Desire
Things change. Forty years ago a farmer, rancher or laborer made many of his own
repairs. My father raised cattle and wheat, built his own house and repaired his
farm equipment himself. He also supervised and maintained oil wells, keeping the
pumps and motors in good working order.
But Dad also owned a shoe-repair business. He simply couldn't make a living on the
farm. So my father, out of necessity, became a jack-of-all-trades and master of one.
He knew enough about mechanics, plumbing and carpentry to get by on the farm, but
he was a professional when it came to repairing shoes.
Jake also focused on what he did best. He wasn't a genius, yet he concentrated on
being the best coach and teacher he could be. Twenty years later his peers designated
him a master teacher and inducted him into his state's teachers' hall of fame.
Daily Commitment
The story goes that a young man interested in music was looking for Carnegie Hall
in New York City. "Excuse me, sir," he inquired of an elderly gentleman on the street.
"Would you be so kind as to tell me how I might get to Carnegie Hall?"
"Certainly, young man," responded the older man.
"practice, practice, practice!"
Consider Dennis Conner's perspective for winning in life. It was he who piloted the
Stars and Stripes, which won back the 1987 America's Cup yachting-race title
from the plucky Australians. In Conner's book The Art of Winning, he writes
about "the 'commitment to the commitment.' I call it 'thinking big.' It means setting
your sights on a goal that may seem unattainable, and achieving it" (Dennis Conner,
The Art of Winning, 1989, p. ix).
Mr. Conner himself revealed his commitment in preparing for that incredible race
in 1987: "Here's what it's like: You wake up every morning knowing that you must
accomplish more than can possibly be done in the next twenty-four hours - more than
you have ever done any other day of your life. You practice, and practice some more - always
looking for a better way, always pushing at the limits of the possible. By the day
of the first race, you know you have done everything you possibly can to prepare.
You have taken away every possible excuse to lose" (Conner, page xv).
Managing Your Weaknesses
Michael O'Brien authored Vince, a biography of a professional American football
coach, Vince Lombardi. Mr. O'Brien wrote of Mr. Lombardi's attempt to instill confidence
in his team, the Green Bay Packers. Preparing his team to defeat its archrival, the
Detroit Lions, Mr. Lombardi showed films that focused only on successful running
plays previously used against the Lions. His idea was that, if his team concentrated
on strengths rather than weaknesses, it had a much better chance of entering the
coming game with confidence.
Although Vince Lombardi was considered a taskmaster of a coach, he understood how
the mind works. He focused his team on its successes and didn't worry about its failures.
You can manage your weaknesses. Of course, some weaknesses should be overcome, not
just managed. A weakness for shoplifting is different from a weakness for chocolate
pastries. If you can't seem to get to work on time, you had better overcome that
weakness or you may lose your job. If your problem is drug or alcohol abuse, you
had better overcome your addiction, or your problem will overcome you.
But some weaknesses can be managed. A television writer had great difficulty because
of dyslexia, which caused him to transpose letters and numbers. He did not attempt
to overcome this debility. Rather, he hired an assistant to correct his writing,
making each script appear as professional as its content. He found a way to manage
one of his human weaknesses.
God Focuses on Your Strengths
Accentuating the positive - building on your strengths - is not just good business advice.
It is also supported by the Bible. King Solomon admonished people to concentrate
on their strengths: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there
is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going" (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
Proverbs 13:19 tells us, "A desire accomplished is sweet to the soul."
Pinpointing and emphasizing your natural strengths and abilities are important, but
an even greater principle, one with a spiritual aspect, comes into play. As a Christian,
you must "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow
will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matthew 6:33,34).
Seek God first. All other physical desires and needs can be met one day at a time.
Although they may be important, they are secondary to seeking God's Kingdom.
Jesus Christ set us an example of prayer in the Gospel of Luke. That prayer directs
our attention to the importance of receiving daily our physical and spiritual food:
"Give us day by day our daily bread" (Luke 11:3).
The apostle Paul supports the day-by-day commitment to life's needs: "Therefore we
do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is
being renewed day by day" (2Corinthians 4:16).
The focus here and throughout Scripture is on a Christian's daily commitment.
Finally, Scripture supports the effective management of weaknesses. Paul encourages:
"(This) one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward
to those things which are ahead" (Philippians 3:13). Paul had to live with the unpleasant
memory of his persecution of God's saints. It would not have been hard for Paul to
succumb to regret rather than positively offering his life as a profitable servant
to others.
God enjoys seeing humans succeed. Consider Job's example, cited by the apostle James:
"Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job
and see the end intended by the Lord" (James 5:11). Anyone who frequently reads the
book of Job notices the self-righteousness of Job. Yet, when God inspired James's
use of Job as an example, James focused on only one aspect of Job's character: his
perseverance.
God could have inspired James to enumerate Job's shortcomings, but He didn't. God
stresses Job's patience. God's lovingly and optimistically looks to our strengths,
not our weaknesses (Romans 8:31-33).
In this mortal life, you may have the tendency to live the dreams of others. Longing
for what might have been can drain and damage. Besides, it is usually difficult to
point to a single decision that set your life on the course you wish you could change.
Your life is a composite of innumerable factors, some you could have altered, others
you have done nothing about.
Regardless, you should always seek wise counsel, especially before making a watershed
decision affecting the direction of a vocation or avocation.
Whatever you decide, remember the importance of obeying God. Paul addresses this
truth: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with (by doing) good" (Romans 12:21). God doesn't say focus on evil by attacking it directly. The best way to overcome
sin is by doing good for others. Where good exists, evil vanishes.
Decided to Fight
Jake's positive example was enhanced by his ability to manage his weaknesses. Jake
was an avid and locally renowned golfer, even though his body was racked with pain
because of Hodgkin's disease. When Jake was 20 years old, his physician told him
he should get his house in order because he would probably die in six months.
Jake had a young wife. He had dreams. His future lay ahead of him, and he was anxious
to share his life with others in his chosen profession. He decided he would not give
up and die; he would fight for his life, marriage and hoped-for family.
And fight he did. In the 26 years of pain that followed, leading to his death at
age 46, Jake accomplished much. Although he became addicted to prescribed drugs that
he took for relief from his chronic pain, he managed his weaknesses so he could present
free seminars to young people about the dangers of taking drugs.
Four times he went cold turkey off drugs. "Those were terrible times," he said. But
he was committed to his goal in life, striving to share his life with young people.
He fought the pain, often averaging two hours of sleep per night so he could continue
teaching.
In his last years, a doctor inadvertently gave him too much chemotherapy, weakening
his heart and adding stress to his already-weak body. Still, he never gave up.
One evening I found Jake driving golf balls in a park. He told me he was hitting
about 300 balls every evening as part of his physical therapy, and hitting all those
golf balls had sharpened his game. It was at once shocking and inspirational to watch
him press a golf ball and tee in the ground, then take hold of his thin legs with
his arms and hands and position his legs so he could drive the ball straight down
an imaginary fairway.
Before he died, Jake's physicians discovered a tumor growing around his spine that,
when removed, forced him to dramatically adjust his walk by learning to swing his
hips and legs so he could move forward. Seeing this once-agile athlete reduced to
near-immobilization was heartrending, to say the least. But he could still drive
with unerring accuracy time after time. I marveled at his attitude, his singleness
of purpose, his relentless determination while experiencing great discomfort, and
I admired his deep desire to manage his weaknesses.
He was a remarkable success in a short life. Jake occasionally remarked that it wasn't
life that created his outgoing perspective; it was the prospect of death.
Jake had weaknesses, most of them brought on by his physical frailties, but he focused
on his strengths. His example was both common and extraordinary. It was common because
Jake was an ordinary person like you and me. It was out of the ordinary because Jake
showed profound courage in the face of daily pain and the prospects of an early grave.
Jake learned to live one day at a time because he knew the next day might be his
last. Perhaps his greatest strength was that he recognized and accepted his natural
talents and therefore proved an outstanding success.
You can win with your strengths, as did my brother Jake.
© 1999-2022 United Church of God, an International Association
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