There are two schools of thought when it comes to personal development and living your best life. One group believes that you should spend more time and energy on your weaknesses, working to improve those areas of your life where you struggle the most. The other group believes you should focus on your strengths, the things you are good at, and put your time and energy there, building on what has already brought you successes.
The arguments made on both sides are valid, and like most things debated these days, leave us more confused than enlightened. What makes it even more confusing is that the people arguing each side are well-educated, can cite strong supporting resources, and make great points. And at the end of the day, the average person is left scratching their head, usually taking no action at all.
A simple place to start would be to work on something. The good news is that whether you work on your strengths or your weaknesses, you will see results, and your life will improve. So, doing something is going to be better than doing nothing… without question.
My thoughts on this, like most things, considers both sides. Today’s so-called experts tend to go super far to one side or the other. We are made to feel we must be completely on one side or the other.
The truth is, it is often your weaknesses that create imbalance in your life. You may be a phenomenal business person, able to make lots of money, but your marriage is in shambles. You may be committed to your spiritual growth, active in your church, yet can’t seem to get a handle on your finances. Or you have strong family values, do well financially, yet struggle with your weight or other health issues.
I can tell you with certainty, that your weaknesses are impacting the overall quality of your life. Many have used the wheel analogy, with each spoke representing an area of your life. If they are all equal, the tire is round and rolls smoothly. One or two short spokes, and the lopsided wheel becomes clumsy and inefficient. The goal, then, is to make efforts to get all the spokes equal, creating perfect balance in your life. This exercise also is to help you see which spokes are short, so you become aware of what needs to be worked on.
The bottom line is that improving these areas where you are weakest can only help. This is true no matter what area that weakness is in, and no matter how weak it is. It becomes especially important in those areas where the weakness is wreaking havoc. If you are neglecting your health to the point where you have to spend a good amount of time visiting doctors or managing that health condition, it requires immediate attention. If you are consuming drugs or alcohol in amounts that are causing harm to you or others, that cannot continue. And if you are spending more money than you make, have no investment strategy, and are living paycheck to paycheck, all other areas of your life are being negatively impacted.
On the flip side, you invariably are very good at something or some things. To neglect those areas in an effort to improve the others will only lead to a different imbalance down the road. Continue to work on what you are best at. Get even better. Just make sure you do not put all of your time into only those areas. You can maintain that greatness, and even improve on it, while also committing to improving on those weaker areas.
It is important to note that the notion of perfect balance is a myth. Life is imperfect, as are we. As you stand upright, you appear to be “balanced,” yet are making millions of micro-adjustments every millisecond, adjusting to the terrain, gravity, and other outside factors. You are not “balanced,” you are “balancing.” Life is about continued and conscious balancing. Keep working on the things that you do best, those things that you are most successful at. But make sure you apply those same success strategies and efforts to the weaker areas of your life. You MUST commit to improving the weakest areas that are causing harm to you and others.
Like most everything in life, it isn’t an either/or scenario. Should you work on your strengths… or your weaknesses? You need to work on both. The good news is that when you do that, your whole life improves. And when one area gets better and stronger, it makes every other area better and stronger. So, get to work… on all of it.