Your strengths and weaknesses

Why it’s important to know your strengths and weaknesses

• It's not unusual for people to compare themselves with others around them, and to feel superior or inferior towards them based on their strengths and their weaknesses.
• The thing is, every individual is different and we all function differently based on our personalities. It is important to know yourself and your capacities.
• Your strengths are things you can leverage on, things you can use to push yourself further.
• On the other hand, your weaknesses are not your downfall. These are areas you need to improve on. It is not something you lack. It is something you need to develop and build.
• In order to leverage your strengths and improve on your weaknesses, you first need to know them.

Knowing your personal strengths

• Your biggest personal strength would be something that comes very easily for you. Take some time and think about what comes naturally for you. It could be anything.
• For example, perhaps you have no problems having conversations with people you meet for the first time or being able to think of quick solutions in a tense environment.
• Here is a simple exercise you can try. From the list of attributes in Table 1, pick five that represents you the most, and arrange them in order, with number five being the one that represents you the least and number one is the one which represents you the most.
• Remember, don’t choose attributes that you want to have. Choose those which really represent you. You can choose more than five if you want to.

Knowing your personal weaknesses

• It is equally important to know your weaknesses as much as knowing your strengths.
• Your weaknesses hold you back from achieving many great things. Weaknesses are areas that you have the power to improve. It can be anything ranging from professional to social skills.
• Similar to the exercise you did earlier, pick five attributes from the list in Table 2 which you believe represent you, with number five being the least like you and number one is the most like you.
• Now you have a list of some of your weaknesses and can begin addressing them.
• Exercises like the two you just did are very basic. There are many more elaborate tests you can take to find out about your strengths and weakness in more depth.
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Why should I know my own strengths and weakness?

• Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses gives you a better understanding of yourself and how you function.
• Understanding your strengths keeps you ahead in a lot of things. For instance, if you are looking at career options, you would be able to narrow down specific job scopes based on the things you know you are good at.
• It also helps you to grow more. Knowing what you can excel at enables you to aim higher and achieve much more.
• Knowing your weaknesses gives you a clearer understanding of things that may be holding you back, and you can then work around finding ways to not let your weaknesses pull you behind.
• Should I focus on my strengths or work on my weaknesses?
• Many people ask if it’s more worth their time to just focus on strengths or work on improving weaknesses?
• Generally, it would be better to focus more on your strengths.
• These are things you are already good at doing, so you won’t need to invest too much of your time and effort in it.
• Focusing on your strengths is about seeking opportunities instead of problems. Instead of focusing on the negatives, focus your energy on the things you are good at.
• Focusing on things you are weak at decreases your self-confidence, enthusiasm and overall performance. Usually, not much is achieved by trying to fix one’s weakness.
• Having said that, working on your weaknesses is important as it contributes to personal growth.
• When you have something you are not good at, improving it even slightly can make the huge change in your overall performance.
• Don’t try to fix or get rid of your weaknesses. It won’t work. Instead, work around your weaknesses. Find ways where they don’t hinder you or stand in your way.

For example, 

• If you have an event to plan, you know you need posters for it and you are not artistically creative but you are excellent at coordinating, use your strength here. Get a team to design the posters and coordinate with them to ensure you get what you want.
• I believe that it is equally important to understand both your strength and weaknesses. It is essential for self-development and personal growth.
• There are a lot of wonderful things you can achieve if you knew your true potential and the things you are capable of doing.

By  Dr. Steve  

Personal Integrity

Personal Integrity

When in action, are you true to yourself? Let personal integrity be your guide. It is the foundation laid by a humans supposed standards at the beginning. At the end of the day, it is the simple truth of what one makes of it. It is a human being's moral compass. That is what personal integrity means to me.

It's meaning involves a rapture of different personal variances and meanings. Personal integrity is an unknown element to the world of science or any field of study, where a conceptual understanding of human beings can be gathered. For one thing is certain, everything fringes upon the accord, thereof, of these people's own personal integrity. Seeing how they're the persons gathering information, and inputting the data entries. After all there really couldn't be a governing body between what is right and what is wrong; and humans, as we all know are severely flawed.

Suppose then the question(s); 

• Is personal integrity a basic human instinct, or is something that is taught by parents, neighbors, teachers or others?
• Is it something that can be learned through observation or discipline?
• What if you were born without it?

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I don't know if integrity can be observed or taught through discipline. Each brings out the question, as too, "What is the moral compass of said adviser imposing the lesson?" To which I'll leave my stead and say that I'll save that for a later date. Personal integrity is the bread & butter of who and what you are. If you question your own moral compass. Ask yourself a all or one of these questions

• If you are handed to much change during a cash transaction, do you give it back?
• If you have already made a promise to one, but got a better offer. Do you break your promise?
• Do you take credit for other peoples work?

If you've answered "Yes" to two of the three questions or "NO" to the first question, you just might be a person with little integrity, and thus not trust worthy.

Relationship

The term relationship can be defined as a particular type of connection existing among a set of people related closely to each other or having any kind of dealings. Trust is the fundamental thing of any relationship. A love relationship is considered successful if it lasts long. Short term relationships are based on the self interests. The primary requirement to sustain to a relationship is interdependence of two or more than two persons.

Long relationship needs patience, understanding and trust. There are times when for months you don't see each other and attraction towards a person of opposite sex in your close proximity is inevitable.

This is a test of true love in long distance relationships. Either you give in to temptations or be faithful to each other and cement your relation.

Who doesn't face rough patch in a relationship. But that doesn't mean to call it quits. Relationship talks help in putting forth your emotions and speak your dilemma and confusion.

When the roots of doubt and suspicion creeps in a relationship and you start concealing yourself behind the faked emotions. Just know, there's a trouble in paradise. Relationships talks are very helpful in mending the differences and can put your relation with loved ones back on the right track.

Soul interaction is the core of any relationship. True love sustains on the giving and sacrifice.

It is very easy to end a relationship but extremely difficult to forge one. Life is a gift of God, but it can be blessed being in relationship with someone who is very close to heart; who fits to be your valentine. The life with that person will automatically be a valentine gift.

You should not expect anything from the recipient. Expectations are the major causes for all tensions and depressions. Creation, protection and failure of relationships are common problems nowadays. Maintaining a relationship requires immense patience and balance. Breaking of relationship is quite painful and unbearable. Do not take your loved ones for granted.

Responsibility

What does “responsibility” really mean? The Age of Responsibility. Responsibility is the choice we make to respond with care. Do you sigh when you hear the word responsibility? Perhaps responsibility is even a dirty word in your vocabulary?  Perhaps you associate it with burdens and restrictions; it represents the opposite of being carefree and without obligations? But responsibility doesn’t have to be a chore, or a cage. It all depends how you think about it.

Responsibility is literally what it says – our ability to respond.

It is a choice we make – whether to be attentive to our children’s needs, whether to be mindful of the plight of those less fortunate, whether to be considerate of the impact we have on the earth and others.

To be responsible is to be proactive in the world, to be sensitive to the interconnections, and to be willing to do something constructive as a way of giving back. Responsibility is the counterbalance to rights. If we enjoy the right to freedom, it is because we accept our responsibility not to harm or harass others. If we expect the right to fair treatment, we need to respect the rule of law and honour the principle of reciprocity. If we believe in the right to have our basic needs met, we have the opportunity to respond when poverty denies those rights to others.

Taking responsibility, at home or in the workplace, is an expression of confidence in our own abilities, a chance to test our own limits, to challenge ourselves and to see how far we can go.

Responsibility is the gateway to achievement. And achievement is the path to growth.

Being responsible for something means that we are entrusted with realising its potential, turning its promise into actuality. We are the magicians of manifestation, ready to prove to ourselves and to others what can happen when we put our minds to it, if we focus our energies and concentrate our efforts.

Being responsible for someone – another person – is an even greater privilege, for it means that we are embracing our role as caregivers, helping others to develop and flourish. This is an awesome responsibility, in the truest sense, one which should be embraced with gratitude, not reluctantly accepted with trepidation.

For responsibility asks no more of us than that we try our best, that we act in the highest and truest way we know. Responsibility is not a guarantee of success, but a commitment to trying. So why is responsibility seen by many as such an onerous burden?

Responsibility becomes onerous when choice is removed from the equation, when we do not realise our freedom to act differently, when we forget that we are allowed to say no.Responsibility becomes pernicious when we take on too much, when we mistakenly think that more is always better, when we take on the guilt and expectations of others. Accepting too many responsibilities is in fact irresponsible – for it compromises our ability to respond. Do few things but do them well is the maxim of responsibility.

Being responsible also doesn’t mean doing it all ourselves. Responsibility is a form of sharing, a way of recognising that we’re all in this together. Sole responsibility is an oxymoron. Taking responsibility is a way of taking ownership in our lives, of acknowledging our own hand in the shaping of destiny.

Responsibility is the antidote for victimhood.

When we walk with awareness, we realise the enmeshed nature of reality, we see the subtle strands that make up the web of life, we accept that everything is linked to everything else.

Responsibility is being conscious of the oneness of existence. Responsibility, if we manage it well, should never be like the curse of Sisyphus, but rather a blessing gratefully received.

For what can be more joyous than making a positive contribution in the world, or making a difference in someone else’s life?

Responsibility is the footprint we leave in the sand, the mark of our passage. What tracks will you leave? Where is the place where you can most freely and effectively respond?

The choice, as always, is yours.

What is the Difference between boss and leader

1. The boss drives group members; the leader coaches them.

2. The boss depends upon authority; the leader on good will.
3. The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm.
4. The boss says "I"; the leader says "we."
5. The boss assigns the task, the leader sets the pace.
6. The boss says, "Get there on time"; the leader gets there ahead of time.
7. The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown.
8. The boss knows how it is done; the leader shows how.
9. The boss makes work drudgery; the leader makes it a game.
10. The boss says, "Go"; the leader says, "Let's go."

 

Every leader is a boss. But every boss is not the leader. This defines the difference between a boss and a leader. The biggest difference between a boss and a leader is one. The boss is respected and obeyed because of his/her seniority. A leader is respected and looked up to as a example not only because of seniority but mainly because of the qualities of character and ability.

Those who aspire to become leaders must lead by example. The team must always have a firm belief that the leader will be there during every crisis. Not to fix the blame, but fix the problem. If the team members find that the leader does not follow what he/she preaches, they will have no respect for him/her. They may obey him/her, but the respect will be missing. Leaders gain this respect by their actions. They look and act sincerely. There is no mismatch between their words and actions. They look integral in approach and character.

To be a leader, every boss must display characteristics such as knowledge, planning, anticipation, foresight, action, result oriented approach, perspective, respect every team member, earn their respect, act as a friend and act as a mentor. This is quite a list, but if you want to become a good leader you need these qualities. This is true not only for national leaders but for persons in every leadership position in any organization. Once a person earns the respect of his /her team members he/she ceases to be only a boss and transforms into a leader.

What the Leader Must Know

What must you, as the leader, know to be able to help the group? You must know:

1. The members and be interested in their welfare.
2. Their hopes, ambitions, abilities, limitations and prejudices.
3. The things the members want to learn, or at least where and how to get the knowledge,such as woodcraft skills.
4. How to motivate members to want to learn new skills and gain new attitudes.Without motivation no learning takes place and without learning the member stagnates and consequently finds no satisfaction from being a part of the group.
5. How to establish communication between the members of the group.
6. How to conduct or supervise meetings, discussions, and informal activities. Within White Stag, these include campfires, singing, Sunday services, troop leader councils, work parties and so forth. common experiences that the group enjoys or that they are proud of help weld the group together.
7. How to assess his own effectiveness, how to get the group to evaluate itself, its goals and its progress toward them. This in turn becomes a powerful motivating force for further learning.

Two Kinds Of Understanding sane and insane

Two Kinds Of Understanding
Essentially there are two kinds of human understanding depending upon the initial basis of the understanding. An individual can either be selfish or unselfish as taught by the early experiences of infancy. For this will determine if they can master their instincts to gain a clear understanding—be sane; or permanently  be the servant of their emotions and be restrained only by convenience—be insane.Hence

Two Kinds Of Understanding
Unselfish (Sane	Selfish (Insane)
Others are more important than self `	Nothing is more important than self
Self-Restraint Inspired by the needs of others for their dignity, peace, property, and lives	Self-Restraint Enforced only by convenience—the reaction of others
Truth Essential for self-restraint to recognize when it is needed. This imposes a constraint on the impact of fear and fancy upon observation, and enforces a sober view of events.	Truth Irrelevant convenience  dictates all restraints, and without this private sense of restraint  observations become readily  distorted by the influence of fear  and fancy
Clear Right And Wrong While the individual may fail to always do  right, the result will be private feelings of guilt and shame; a knowledge of doing wrong	No Right And Wrong just good  and bad results for self. Shame  and guilt only exist in the pleas of  individuals discovered in crime.
Competent Armed with truth, inspired by duty, and powered by resolve realizes pursuit of achievements regardless of private sacrifice.	Incompetent Indifference to truth,  irresolute and uninspired, prevents any worthwhile achievement except in boasts or excuses

Forgiving

This is a human defense mechanism. You are feeling this way because your instincts are trying to protect you from being hurt again. However, true forgiveness will require you to let these defenses down. When you do, you are making yourself vulnerable to the person who has hurt you. This is often a scary feeling but it's what trust is all about.

But the thing still happened right? You might still have some anger to deal with. As long as your anger gets processed, you will be able to go to a deeper level of forgiveness, where you EMOTIONALLY release the event or person.

Jealousy

jealousy is when you react negatively towards the possibility of losing what you have to someone else. Unlike envy, it usually involves three people, rather than just two: you, the person who has what you want, and the person who threatens to take it away.

It's an unhealthy habit that can make any kind of relationship crumble; if you're a jealous person, you have seen how much damage it can do. But at the core of jealousy are some fears and expectations that are hard to shake, unless you make a conscious effort to cast them away.

Life Commitment

Life Commitment
What are you committed to in your life? Are you committed to following through with your word, giving your best to your work, meeting your families and friends needs, dedicating yourself to worthy causes? What about with yourself, do you have any commitments just for you? So often, many of us put everything and everyone else first and then have very little time or energy left over to give to ourselves. As we know, this leads to frustration, resentment and burnout. Our commitments are then born out of duty and obligation rather than stemming from our hearts and desires.

When we make a commitment to honor ourselves first or at least equally, we feel full and grateful and then have the energy to give to others freely out of choice. Honoring our values and needs supports us in setting healthy boundaries and making appropriate decisions. What would your life would be like if you made a commitment to fully honor yourself on a regular basis? Are you willing to find out?
Insights

What have you been committed to in the past year? What commitments take up the most time and energy? Are they mostly for others, or for you, or both?

What commitments have you made in the past year that are mainly for you or honour you as much as the other (i.e. a creative hobby, learning something your really interested, pampering yourself regularly, spending time with people you enjoy, doing work that ignites your passion etc.).

What motivates you to make commitments (i.e. passion, desire, obligation, duty, survival, pressure etc.)? How are you at fulfilling your commitments? Are there any patterns regarding commitments you break versus commitments you follow through on (for example, do you break commitments to yourself more often than to others or vice verse)?

Inspiration

Make a list of all the things you would like to commit to for this next year (not have to, but want to). Start with things that are mainly for you and then add on commitments regarding other people and situations. Set your intention to implement these throughout the year.

Make a list of all the commitments you would like to let go of this year and brainstorm ideas on how to do this (let yourself come up with zany and bizarre ideas to get your creativity and possibilities flowing) and then follow-through with these one at a time.

Spend 10 - 15 minutes every day imagining what your life will be like as you honor yourself by making commitments that nourish and support you while letting go of ones that don't. If any guilt or fearful feelings come up, release those as well and replace them with the feelings of enthusiasm and joy.

The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for.

Courage

Courage is not something that comes from flying to your heart in moments of need or in emergencies. Courage is not something that can be handed over to you through lessons either.

Courage is a way of life. It is as much a habit as anything else. Like getting up and brushing your teeth in the morning, or drinking coffee.

It’s a matter of routine more than anything else. People tend to speak of courage only in terms of deeds. For instance, they might speak of courage in the battlefield. Soldiers and policemen are supposed to show courage. Or they might refer to courage in the face of devastation. Flood-affected people or earthquake victims must show courage.

However, courage is not merely the name you can give to your putting up with a bad situation. After all, in a bad situation, there is not much one can do expect cope with whatever strength and forbearance you can muster.

But though we don’t notice it, a lot of courage is part of our routines. The man who gets into a blocked sewer shows courage. The man who tills the land, not knowing whether he will have a good monsoon shows courage. The woman who resists the temptation to lavish goodies on her children shows courage. The child who breaks a leg on the football field but goes back to the game later shows courage. The student who is bent on following his dreams shows courage.

The real test of courage is in our daily lives. Or should be.

The courage to speak the truth. All the time. Because lies are the biggest and most obvious sort of cowardice that all of us hide behind.

The courage to speak our mind and not stay silent, simply because we are afraid that other people might not agree with us. Of course, there will be conflicting views. And of course, conflict is unpleasant. But not speaking your mind can lead to much worse unpleasantness.

The courage to stand up for what we believe in. The courage to follow public rules and laws and insist that other people follow them too. The courage to resist those who take easy ways out, which only leads to more corruption and red tape in our social systems.

Mark Twain has said, Courage is not the absence of fear. It is acting in spite of it.

The sign of a courageous person, then, is someone who is feels, fear, recognizes fear and still goes on to do what he or she believes is right.