I strongly believe that your strengths determine your weaknesses. Personally, I see this as a kind of “Great Equalizer” so that people are in fact, cannot be perfect.

Marcus Buckingham writes about this concept in the bestselling, “Now, Discover Your Strengths.” Buckingham worked for Gallup at the time and was able to research and prove that spending time on your weaknesses is in fact, a big waste of time. The same amount of effort focused on working in your strengths, rather than fiddling with your weaknesses, will bring much faster, more fulfilling results.

”All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths.” - StrengthFinder 2.0 website

Forget about being “Well-rounded”, you might as well say that you’d like to be all around mediocre. How’s that for a life goal?

Superman knows this well, which is what makes him such a good superhero. Instead of spending time working out in Kryptonite filled gyms, eating kryptonite pellets in his cereal, or making kryptonite-proof super-suits, he simply avoids it altogether. That’s his secret — keeping his distance from his weakness.

How to Avoid Your Weaknesses:

  1. Learn about your strengths and put them to work. Take the StrengthsFinder 2.0 Test. Created by the Gallup research team mentioned above, StrengthFinder 2.0 is a book created to describe strengths and point out your top 5 out of a the possible 34 available.
  2. Figure out who you are (and who you are not) by taking a personality test. I like the Myers Briggs, but while the real version costs money, a Free Online Personality Test will point you in the right direction. There are 16 types of personalities and finding the closest 2 will give you insights to both your strengths and weaknesses
  3. Ask your closest friends to write out a half sheet of your strengths. They can often put things into words better than you can. If you really trust them, ask about your weaknesses too.
  4. Learn to say No. Even Superman gets asked to do things he shouldn’t try. Don’t think so highly of yourself that you take on tasks that you shouldn’t attempt. Don’t be a pain about it, simply be honest and let people know that you would love to help by using your strengths if possible.
  5. Get a Team to fill in the gaps. Even superheroes work better in teams. Gather people around you who’s strengths compliment your weaknesses. Beware that opposites attack if you don’t keep the focus on working in your strengths. The goal of a team should be to have everyone working together (and cover each others weaknesses).

Once you start to understand these natural strengths, you’ll soon begin to also appreciate your weaknesses — and avoid your own personal Kryptonite.