In this video I share my biggest learning outcome from the previous week, and it felt like an important one this week:
What are my TRUE strengths and weaknesses, and how can that knowledge benefit me?
I recently purchased the book 'Managing Oneself' by Peter Drucker. It came highly recommended from Tai Lopez. For those of you that don't know him, Tai reads a book every day and is an exceptionally intelligent man. On his site he has book recommendations and this one sits in the #1 spot. You can check out his recommendations here. One of the reasons why I like this book, is due to it's short nature and powerful message. The book is only 56 pages long, and can easily be read in a day. Yet, the premise is based on finding how you operate in some meaty topics, such as:
What are your strengths and weaknesses
How do you learn
How do you perform
What are your values
Where do you belong
What should you contribute
Relationship responsibilities
The second half of your life
One of my biggest take home lessons was in the first few pages - What are my strengths? Peter states:
"Most people think they know what they're good at. They're usually wrong. More often people know what they're NOT good at, and even then, more people are wrong than right. And yet, a person can perform only from strength. One cannot build performance on weakness, let alone something one can not do at all."
He goes on to say that people are better off focusing on building up their strengths, rather than their weaknesses. It takes far more effort to improve your incompetence to mediocrity, than it does to improve first-rate performance to excellence. So, how do know if you're in the subsection of people that know their strengths or don't have a clue? Feedback Analysis Instead of using 'gut feel', you can test yourself based on ACTUAL past successes and failures (both are important). Every time you go about starting something, perhaps a new job, sport, business etc. write down what you expect to happen. 9 months later, go back to that prediction and analyse what ACTUALLY happened. Did you predict right or did you get it wrong? In both cases, ask yourself 'why was that?', and ask yourself 'why' multiple times to get to the TRUTH..... Example: Writing a book 1. Why did I fail? "I failed because I didn't find enough the time to write the book"
2. Why didn't you find enough time to write the book? "Other things in my life kept getting in the way" 3. Why did other things get in the way? "Because I allowed them to" 4. Why did you allow them to get in the way? "writing makes me feel uncomfortable, and I didn't want to feel that way" 5. Why does writing make you feel uncomfortable? "I don't think I'm a very good writer"
etc........ you get the picture. The further you can drill down and get the truth, the richer the learning! I looked back at my previous projects, and assessed what seemed to work and what didn't. I wrote a list and found the exercise very revealing. *Main Learning point for me* From this exercise I established that one of my biggest strengths is following through on a (perceived) successful path. If I believe that taking a certain action will produce results, I have the self discipline to follow through on that task 100%. I'll do exactly what is required to replicate that outcome. On the flip side, one of the consistent steps to failure for me is Creative Thinking. When there isn't a right and wrong answer, and there are a million different ways of doing it. My logical mind kicks in and attempts to analyse all options until I've found the one that makes most sense. This is ineffective, a waste of energy and time. And I feel drained from doing it, even if I solve the issue. My take home point is spend the vast majority of time working on following paths, and use the assistance of others to help you plot tasks. Be it Lou, friends, family, coaches, mentors etc. Once they assist me in finding the optimal task, go ahead and do what I do best - deliver on it!
I have 3 main goals for the remainder of 2015. I have more, but these are my priorities: 1. Write and publish my first book on managing money. 2. Release my beginners guide to Kindle Publishing course. 3. Earn £2,500 per month on Kindle. I decided to try feedback analysis and predict what I TRULY think will happen, and this is what I came up with... 1. I will finish writing it by the date. I will have added and taken away parts, questioned the title, contents etc. I might still be finding cover or promotion. I will be over 80% of the way there. 2. I will complete this task. More confident than goal 1, framework to follow, just need to deliver.
3. Recent months would suggest this is unlikely. I need to change or improve what I'm doing for this to happen in this time frame. I need to focus more on Kindle publishing and less on other activities and projects. I think I'll be somewhere in between where I am now and the goal - £1850.
Lets see how I get on! What about you? What tasks have you taken on over the last few years that haven't worked out. Why was that? (ask why multiple times!) What tasks do you deliver on time and time again? What's the reason behind that? If you have any upcoming projects I encourage you to spend a few minutes writing out what you REALLY think will happen. Come back to that prediction after the event and assess what happened, whether it's good or bad. After reading this book, I will try to harness my strengths as much as possible and seek assistance in the areas that don't come as naturally to me. I'm interested to find out how my predictions pan out too. I'm so glad to have stumbled across this recommendation, and due to the value I gleaned from the book, I could only in turn highly recommend it myself.
If you've read the book, or have any general thoughts on it, please let me know in the comments section. *I've used amazon affiliate links in this post. If you choose to buy this book, I will receive a commission on the sale. You will not have to pay any extra money for buying the book with my links. I only recommend products or services that I've used and that I think will help other people.