Weakness Are Strength in Disguise – How our weakness can reveal powerful qualities hidden from us
No matter how great a personality you have, how many supposedly innate strengths you possess, how much money you got, how beautiful or handsome you are, how brilliant you are or how you have succeeded in the past – none of these things matter on their own.
In my speaking session on human transformation, many participants are naturally obsessed with strength.
The favourite myth that we should focus on using mainly our strengths and focus less on working on our weaknesses, unfortunately, does not answer many grey areas.
The truth is, people are afraid of their weaknesses because facing our weaknesses undermines our confidence and we are not sure about handling the hard truth.
But what lies behind that hard truth will help to strengthen, if not, reveal certain powerful qualities hidden from us.
Here are three new mind-shifting perspectives of how we can look at weaknesses directing us in the direction of revealing more of our strengths.
Weakness reveals the power needed to build strength.
Using our body wellness as an example, for our body to absorb calcium efficiently to build healthy bones and teeth, we need a vital ingredient called Vitamin D.
When the two-power combined, magic happens. But the lack of either one of them means any more intake of calcium or vitamin D would not work.
Recognising our weaknesses is revealing the missing ingredients needed to build our current strengths and discover new ones.
If I am poor in following through on a long-term project, by recognizing that weakness, I can consciously create a system around it.
For example, breaking a long-term plan into a smaller chunk of milestones so that it is manageable.
Do not ignore it because it will always come back to haunt you.
Weakness reveals the clues to a new system
When weakness surfaces, it is telling us there is a missing equation. Something need to happen before something happen is what I have always shared with the participant.
Build a new system through your weakness because it will help you to manoeuvre through the gap with relative ease in the future. By going through it, you discover the new answer to the weakness itself.
If I am weak in expressing myself during presentation or sharing, what I can do is to create a system of physically writing down three key points and no more.
To reinforce that, verbally rehearse the three points before the presentation, and repeating that pattern over a period will reveal more clues for you to find the right calibration.
Face the weakness head-on and go through it.
Weakness reveals new courage.
If my natural strength is being a “smart” worker, it merely means that while I can find the shorter way to get there, it does not necessarily mean it’s the right way or a decision you have made in an appropriate amount of time and information. As such; we might have made a compromise.
By admitting that I need to roll up my sleeve and get my hand dirty if need be, surface new courage of believing in delivering not just a smart but an equally strong evidence-backed decision.
It is a powerful awareness that will multiply my credibility and influence with others and be known as someone who not only can get there efficiently but effectively too.
Discover the new courage in yourself through your weakness.
In summary, weakness is our hidden strength. Discover by recognizing the missing equation. Face the weakness head-on and build a new system around it so that you will be able to reveal the new courage within you and magnify your strengths.
Article by:
Joseph Wong is an award-winning Leadership Transformation coach and Influence without Authority Expert and Author. Email to influence@traininggearasia.com
