Focusing your STRENGTH not your weakness………

While I was reading the first part of the Strength Finder 2.0 explaining about how people should focus more in their strength than their weakness, it took me on a journey to a remarkable moment in my past childhood years. After arriving back to Myanmar with my grandparents in 1990, the culture differences and the teaching styles have made my back to school experiences the hardest moment in my life. I was having trouble memorizing the lessons rather than understanding the importance of these subjects in our learning experience. So when the first monthly test began, apart from English, Math and Science, all my other readings subjects (Myanmar, Geography and History) failed with extremely low marks.

My tuition teacher knows that this was going to happen but when I received my report card and showed it to her, she as well as my parents started scolding me and telling me that they will start restricting my studying hours to focus more to get the grades up. At that heated moment, I remembered that my grandmother came in the room and asked me to step out for a while. After that day, my mother as well as my tuition teacher changed the way they approached in my studies. They appraise a lot about how my English, Math and Science are doing and helped me improved in getting the perfect marks in those subjects. As my grading for English, Math and Science improved exams after exams, the other 3 reading subjects climbed up on the ladder. This has made me very interested in what my grandmother had told them that day. On a fine day during the summer holiday, I asked her the approach she has used to tell my mother and my tuition teacher that day.

I still remembered that she gave a wonderful smile and told me that “Simple my Dear, I told them that we have expected that this is going to happen. So, rather than scolding her she has got bad grades in other 3 subjects, appraise her that she was doing well with the other 3 subjects and help her improve in them so that it will motivate her to improve her studies.”

If this simple approach can help change and improve the life of a 5^th grade student, why hasn’t people use this approaches to help others improve in their strength rather than asking them to improve on their weakness.

Here are some useful information on the key points that can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.

1. Strength and Weakness
2. 3 Myths About Strengths and Weaknesses
3. How to Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses