I did Strengths Finder a few weeks back for work and I was hoping for some quite cool strengths but found myself a bit disappointed by the results. I came across so boring! or at least thats how i felt. so I’m now going to look and reflect on it all properly for a bit

So my strengths were:

Intellection

Input

Learner

Connectedness

Disciple

Intellection

so you get a personalised report now, more than the book can offer. which should be great. except the report for this strength seems to focus on the answer i gave to one question. i cant quite remember it now, but it was more or less, ‘do you prefer to lean about world wars or play football’. something like that. so i said the word wars. and now my whole prersonalised report is about how i love to learn about world wars…

anyway, i guess there are some good bits in this strength…

‘you experience the story of mankind unfolding before your eyes on the printed page’- i do love to immerse myself in the story of people

‘you are attracted to the printed word’- i love reading, this is true

‘you feel happy when you are blossoming- this is, coming into your own’ i like this phrase

‘you probably review what you have and have not accomplished. you scrutinize… you tend to examine many aspects of your life’ i probably do all those but on the ‘not accomplished’ side which i’m not sure is a strength…

the book sugests that ’ you are the kind of person who enjoys time alone because it is your time for musing and reflection’. this is pretty true. not sure its a strength though. does explain why i enjoy all that time on the back of the bike with only myself to talk to

Input

again my personal report made me sound like a complete geek and weird recluse at first ‘you have invested time in broadening your vocabulary by looking up words in the dictionary’ thankfully i have more of a life than that…

i actually like this one the best. there is a lot on it about taking small details in and running with them to make things great, and taking in details about people so that i can make them feel valued by noticing and responding to the small things. 

the book discribes the strength as being ‘inquisitve’ and ‘the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. the world is exciting’

its so true

i love life and all the things life presents to me. mayonnasie in ham sandwiches even (ask jill). so many little things delight me. and i love beautiful and new things. 

and i love that this is a strength.

Learner

this is how it sounds. that i have a desire to learn. and learn well. and will put the effort in to reach the goal. i think this links strongly to the one above.

the big slant is that it is the process rather than the end product that excites me. and i think that’s true. the delight in learning something new and seeing myself progress in it.

just need to apply this to my pano plaing and i might get somewhere!

Connectedness

i think i got this as i answered a lot of questions from a faith point of view. on rereading the personal report i quite like this strength and want to own it. 

it talks about believing we are all connected so i value people and the environment and have a strong sense of right and worng. and that i will try and connect people together and create peace and underscore what people have in common even if there are so many other things that are different. 

‘you are considerate, caring and accepting’ ‘bridge builder’ ‘you give others comfort that there is a purpose beyond our humdrum lives’

‘your faith is strong. it sustains you and your close friends in the face of life’s mysteries.’

yes i want to claim this strength

discipline

so i knew this was coming. and it can be a strength but sometimes i hate it

it spells out how organised i am and how i love order and systems and colourcoded lists.

which is true. and can be helpful and a strength.

but it’s so anal

but i dont like the idea that i need everything has to be predictable and that i dont like taking risks and trying new and unpredictable things.

i know it’s only a book so doesn’t have to be all true.

i up-ed and moved to london so can’t be totally fixed in needing predictability. but i guess i don’t like because i know its true. and i don’t want it to be…

so i don’t feel quite so bad having looked through them all. I love the input strength. That my delight in life is a strength.