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How often have you been told that you must work on your weaknesses in order to improve yourself? That you should focus on your weaknesses and bring them up to a higher standard? That by being a good, capable all-rounder you stand the best chance of achieving success in your life?

Well I disagree! For a start, focusing on your weaknesses isn’t exactly an uplifting or motivating activity is it? From a self-awareness point of view, yes, it’s important to be aware of the categories your weaknesses fall into. But the next step doesn’t automatically have to be one of focusing on them, agonising about them and working hard to correct them.

Actually all you need to do is work out how to manage your weaknesses so they don’t trip you up. Accept them, keep them under control but don’t waste loads of energy worrying about them. Draining your energy with worrying thoughts is a form of clutter, so by decluttering that unnecessary fretfulness about your weaknesses, you free up space and energy for your natural strengths to shine through. With less anxiety and more mental space, you can set about identifying the skills and activities which come easily to you and have fun developing them.

It may not be popular wisdom, but the truth is that your greatest room for growth is in the area of your greatest strength. And by the same token, your greatest scope for success is in the area of your greatest strength. You don’t often hear of people who have made a huge success out of correcting their weaknesses do you? It’s much more likely that success and fulfilment will come from identifying and developing your natural strengths.

So do yourself a favor! Quit wasting your energy on all those things you don’t enjoy and are never going to be world champion at. Stop and think instead about how you could have some fun polishing your strengths so they sparkle like diamonds. Think too about how much success you could achieve by committing yourself to the fine-tuning and expert application of your talents.

Polishing your strengths gives you energy and delivers great results. You get to excel in a way that all-rounders never quite achieve. If your purpose in life is to be your best self, then this is surely one of the ways to go about it.

** Which of your weaknesses can you stop wasting your energy on today?

** Which of your strengths would you like to start polishing?