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My
Strengths
(from
StrengthsQuest)
Achiever
Arranger
Responsibility
Focus
Maximizer
Achiever
Your Achiever
theme helps explain your drive. Achiever describes a
constant need for achievement. You feel as if every day
starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve
something tangible in order to feel good about yourself.
And by "every day" you mean every single day-workdays,
weekends, vacations. No matter how much you may feel you
deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some
form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel
dissatisfied. You have an internal fire burning inside
you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more. After
each accomplishment is reached, the fire dwindles for a
moment, but very soon it rekindles itself, forcing you
toward the next accomplishment. Your relentless need for
achievement might not be logical. It might not even be
focused. But it will always be with you. As an Achiever
you must learn to live with this whisper of discontent.
It does have its benefits. It brings you the energy you
need to work long hours without burning out. It is the
jolt you can always count on to get you started on new
tasks, new challenges. It is the power supply that
causes you to set the pace and define the levels of
productivity for your work group. It is the theme that
keeps you moving.
Arranger
You are a
conductor. When faced with a complex situation involving
many factors, you enjoy managing all of the variables,
aligning and realigning them until you are sure you have
arranged them in the most productive configuration
possible. In your mind there is nothing special about
what you are doing. You are simply trying to figure out
the best way to get things done. But others, lacking
this theme, will be in awe of your ability. "How can you
keep so many things in your head at once?" they will
ask. "How can you stay so flexible, so willing to shelve
well-laid plans in favor of some brand-new configuration
that has just occurred to you?" But you cannot imagine
behaving in any other way. You are a shining example of
effective flexibility, whether you are changing travel
schedules at the last minute because a better fare has
popped up or mulling over just the right combination of
people and resources to accomplish a new project. From
the mundane to the complex, you are always looking for
the perfect configuration. Of course, you are at your
best in dynamic situations. Confronted with the
unexpected, some complain that plans devised with such
care cannot be changed, while others take refuge in the
existing rules or procedures. You don't do either.
Instead, you jump into the confusion, devising new
options, hunting for new paths of least resistance, and
figuring out new partnerships-because, after all, there
might just be a better way.
Responsibility
Your Responsibility theme forces
you to take psychological ownership for anything you
commit to, and whether large or small, you feel
emotionally bound to follow it through to completion.
Your good name depends on it. If for some reason you
cannot deliver, you automatically start to look for ways
to make it up to the other person. Apologies are not
enough. Excuses and rationalizations are totally
unacceptable. You will not quite be able to live with
yourself until you have made restitution. This
conscientiousness, this near obsession for doing things
right, and your impeccable ethics, combine to create
your reputation: utterly dependable. When assigning new
responsibilities, people will look to you first because
they know it will get done. When people come to you for
help-and they soon will-you must be selective. Your
willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead you to take
on more than you should.
Focus
"Where am I
headed?" you ask yourself. You ask this question every
day. Guided by this theme of Focus, you need a clear
destination. Lacking one, your life and your work can
quickly become frustrating. And so each year, each
month, and even each week you set goals. These goals
then serve as your compass, helping you determine
priorities and make the necessary corrections to get
back on course. Your Focus is powerful because it forces
you to filter; you instinctively evaluate whether or not
a particular action will help you move toward your goal.
Those that don't are ignored. In the end, then, your
Focus forces you to be efficient. Naturally, the flip
side of this is that it causes you to become impatient
with delays, obstacles, and even tangents, no matter how
intriguing they appear to be. This makes you an
extremely valuable team member. When others start to
wander down other avenues, you bring them back to the
main road. Your Focus reminds everyone that if something
is not helping you move toward your destination, then it
is not important. And if it is not important, then it is
not worth your time. You keep everyone on point.
Maximizer
Excellence, not
average, is your measure. Taking something from below
average to slightly above average takes a great deal of
effort and in your opinion is not very rewarding.
Transforming something strong into something superb
takes just as much effort but is much more thrilling.
Strengths, whether yours or someone else's, fascinate
you. Like a diver after pearls, you search them out,
watching for the telltale signs of a strength. A glimpse
of untutored excellence, rapid learning, a skill
mastered without recourse to steps-all these are clues
that a strength may be in play. And having found a
strength, you feel compelled to nurture it, refine it,
and stretch it toward excellence. You polish the pearl
until it shines. This natural sorting of strengths means
that others see you as discriminating. You choose to
spend time with people who appreciate your particular
strengths. Likewise, you are attracted to others who
seem to have found and cultivated their own strengths.
You tend to avoid those who want to fix you and make you
well rounded. You don't want to spend your life
bemoaning what you lack. Rather, you want to capitalize
on the gifts with which you are blessed. It's more fun.
It's more productive. And, counter intuitively, it is
more demanding.
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