Inner strength

1Feb11, 7am Hot flow yoga with Martina Lee

2Feb11, 7:15am Bodypump with Kelvin

3Feb11, 12:30pm Bodycombat with Kelvin

4Feb11, 4:15pm Hip-opening hot yoga with Bernadette Leung

21 days of logging water consumption and I seem to be stuck at 2 containers per day, which is 1600mL... what to do? How can I get myself to drink more water?

21 days of eating all of my meals and snacks prior to 10pm!!! This makes me very happy!

Ok, well after Thursday's fitness that consisted mostly of some pretty intense Muay Thai boxing, I know I have some pretty fierce physical strength. However, as my devoted readers (all 4 of you) know, I've been focusing quite heavily on my inner strengths this past week or two.

In my post a few days ago -- Continuing the theme of strengths -- I started delving into the four domains of leadership, in other words, the needs of those that look to you (me) for leadership. This lead me to commit to the long Strengths Finder program so that I could weed through all of the "I like doing this" and "I tend to lose track of time while doing that" blah, blah, blah, and put my interests and passions into five simple words that I believe define my strengths. So I wanted to spend some time writing about what each "strength" means so that I can learn more about what it means to me. Furthermore, I wanted to eventually integrate the perceptions of some of the closest people in the world to me regarding my strengths, especially in light of finishing the last interview that I committed to doing (the one with my sister... it was sooo good!) for Susanne Conrad's program.

So here are some general statements about each of these strengths that have been associated with me through this process. Interestingly, many are bang-on with me in my mind and many are almost verbatim from responses I heard from my friends and family during the interviews.

Within the "Executing" domain:

Apparently nothing... I'm going to have to surround myself with people who can actually do the work! I laugh because in some sense, this is very true. I have great ideas and can get them rolling but really rely on a good team to keep that ball rolling! The fact that I see myself relying on a "team" is not congruent with a few other aspects of my strengths below, however.

Within the "Influencing" domain:

1. Activator

• comfortable telling other individuals stories about personal habits, qualities, experiences, or background

• forthcoming by nature, which may help others easily share their thoughts and feelings

• can make some people feel valued by listening carefully to what they are saying, may refer to one of their key thoughts or questions later

• instinctively pinpoint and acknowledge the grand ideas that people share

• able to listen to others talk about their unique interests, talents, backgrounds, experiences, strengths, limitations, goals, or fears

• enjoy discovering an individual’s style of thinking, learning, working, playing, problem solving, or studying

• driven by talents, can perform well individually, but need to stay busy

• typically want to start working as soon as a plan has been made, and delays are frustrating

2. Maximizer

• efficiency is key
• reject using a one-size-fits-all approach when attempting to influence people to take action and rather will spend time to discover each person’s special talents, skills, knowledge, mission, likes, and dislikes
• personalize words and deeds
• select projects, assignments, or tasks where talents are best utilized to produce outcomes
• seek opportunities to work independently with the realization that more progress can often be made when working alone
• very aware of strengths and weaknesses and trust instincts in this regard
• able to make immense progress because of reliance on talents
• confidence is important and won't be lost by trying to tackle tasks without the proper talents even with relevant knowledge, skills, or experience in hand
• often forge ahead to build the life they envision and reach goals by finding as many opportunities as possible to use their unique abilities and natural gifts

Within the "Relationship Building" domain:

3. Harmony

• periodically insist on dealing with certain types of tasks right away because doing so makes sense

• practical, may want everyone to follow established guidelines, regulations, or standard operating procedures and can be irritated when people do not or demand special treatment

• can become irritated when one or two individuals create their own way of doing things

• thinks like a scientist or a detective, searching for clues, isolating facts, and solving mysteries and uses this information to make people aware of the way things really are

• can easily help others put aside their biases, misconceptions, prejudices, or emotions

• can prevent arguments from ruining relationships
• thrilled when people acknowledge practical, realistic, and straightforward style of thinking
• deals evenhandedly with everyone involved in a project, probably realizing that misunderstandings will be kept to a minimum, and others rely on this
• good feelings come when teammates, coworkers, classmates, friends, or family members are behave respectfully and work cooperatively due to your efforts
• practical and realistic when processing ideas
• appreciate projects with simple steps or defined starting and stopping points
• often test ideas with experts for validation
• attracted to situations where high quality results can be produced
• a realist

4. Individualization

• often participate in meetings with individuals who are trying to set their goals
• ask questions or make suggestions that help to define clear objectives
• help people to identify their performance targets
• assist people in fascinating predicaments
• aid others asking help with an intriguing problem, unanswered question, or unfamiliar subject and are delighted to report discoveries and conclusions
• often aid certain individuals by making recommendations, suggesting changes, or providing advice.
• assist certain individuals by sharing with them acquired information, mastered skills, or personal experiences
• often a good instructor, tutor, or trainer
• very forthcoming when asked impressions about a particular person, event, or situation

Within the "Strategic Thinking" domain:

5. Learner

• often prefers individual performances, especially when mental or physical energies can be directed toward intriguing tasks
• thirsts for information
• can often generate ideas or devise several techniques to do something you already do well even better
• needs questions to be answered and to stay well informed about topics that affect you personally or professionally
• likes being bombarded with facts, data, and/or explanations because receiving only bits and pieces of information raises your level of anxiety, suspicion, or frustration
• it is upsetting when individuals forget or refuse to tell you something you think you have a right or a need to know
• enjoy sharing your point of view with certain individuals who ask, “What do you think?”
• often enroll in difficult or demanding classes.
• likes activities that specifically expand knowledge or challenge thinking styles about certain things

Ok, well all of this work and here it is, boiled down to five words, albeit with rather lengthy descriptions.

When asked, my friends and family said my key strengths were as follows:

"your attitude toward life that takes you places"

"you’re such a positive person"

"

very thoughtful in the sense that you think of others but you also think about other sorts of life issues"

"very strong-minded (you know what you want, what you need, what you should/shouldn’t do and you stick to that)"

"your ability to think, think like a scientist"

"you’re smart and your brain is quick"

"you are able to do so many things, even if not all at once, but in a week you’ll have gotten so much done… over the course of various areas of your life, work, friends, personal growth, interesting things, creative things"

"highly productive person"

"you always think about other people"

"you always have good intentions"

"how much you can accomplish in a short period of time"

"time management"

"d

etermination"

"very dedicated and

persistent"

"a very hard worker"

"passionate, putting everything into whatever project you’re working on"

"very intelligent"

"insanely caring and thoughtful"

"organized, high value of education"

"intelligence level is very high"

"dedication to your family"

"

persistency and determination"

"determination with school"

"you’re well-rounded and have a lot of different interests"

"you like to be educated and caught-up on issues that are important to you"

"you’re very good at teaching, explaining things to someone so anybody can understand them"

"unconditional love, you hold your relationships very high, probably higher than anything in your life, that’s the most important thing to you, your relationships and maintaining them, and that’s not easy to do"

Some of it is UNCANNY! So, you (my devoted readers... are there five of you now?) may be thinking, what's the point of this exercise and why are you telling me all about your strengths. Well, for one, I'm sure you can appreciate that I want to be the best me that I can. This requires being both a student and a professor in my own world. This is an exercise in learning more about myself yes, but writing about it and explaining it puts me in the professor's chair too. We all know that being able to explain something requires us to know it THAT much more; thus being a professor makes me an even better student. Secondly, I (and many other people on this planet) often get caught up in this crazy headspace with this script of who I think I am, e.g. not good enough, not working hard enough, not smart, lazy, blah, blah, blah, blah negatives with an occasional superlatives thrown in there every now and then. However, I know this kind of script is not going to permit me to change the world for the better! But yes, I admit, I thought that my friends' and family's answers were far more generous than I'd ever be with myself. In this case, however, we are encouraged to TAKE THE UPGRADE! What viewpoint is going to make the difference in this world... the crazy ones that enter my head from time to time? NO! The way the world (my friends and family and coworkers) sees me and is influenced by me is how I'm going to change the world. So, it's time to start seeing the contributions I make with my unique combination of strengths, even if I have to see them through the eyes of those closest to me for a little while. Lastly, I will let this be the framework to becoming a really great leader.

To be continued...