“As a direct result of Becky’s excellent coaching, I have been living a healthier life, and people in my life have also taken notice and commented on the healthy changes I have made. She is truly an amazing coach who I would recommend to anybody, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for her life-changing coaching.”
The first time I read these words, they had been sent to me, completely unsolicited, by a client I had worked with in support of her wellness goals. And it was quite an interesting experience because I had not been seeking a testimonial, so I didn’t expect to hear someone singing my praises.
Mind you, having been on BOTH sides of a coaching call, I understand the power that coaching has to change lives. But even so, hearing about the positive impact I had on another person’s life was touching and wonderful. And I think what made it so was that her testimonial (which you can read in its entirety on my website if you’re interested) included her highlighting what she perceived to be my strengths as a coach based on her experience of working with me.
You see…no matter how confident we may be or how strong we may feel in certain aspects of our lives, we often go through life unaware of some of our greatest strengths because we fail to do the work of exploring what they are. In my experience, we are WAY stronger and WAY more talented than we give ourselves credit for. Too often, instead of seeing the strengths we DO possess, we focus instead on the areas where we feel lacking. The thing is…if we don’t learn to recognize our strengths, then we can’t learn how to use them to create the lives we want!
So how exactly DO you go about identifying the strengths you possess?
The simplest way to approach this for many people might be to use some type of strengths inventory. If you are a client of mine who is interested in something like this, I have one that I can provide for you; just let me know! But even if you are NOT someone I work with, I would suggest seeking out this kind of tool if you feel it will give you clarity; I imagine a quick internet search might yield a variety of options!
Another way to discover strengths you may not be aware of? Ask those around you! Whether it be your family members, friends, or colleagues, the people who spend the most time with you tend to be a GREAT resource for identifying the things you’re really great at. The thing is, even if it feels awkward, you need to be willing to ASK them…and I’m pretty sure you will be pleasantly surprised at what you learn from them.
Either approach you take, the important part is the discovery. In order to create the lives we want, we need to put forth effort. And in my experience, the best way to do that is by starting with your strengths and leading with those. Then, once you’ve gotten started and created some momentum, you can focus on areas where you want to build additional strengths and skills to carry you even further toward the life you want.
And for those of you who struggle to remember just how strong you are? Remind yourself! Write your strengths down someplace you will see them each day. Record them and play them back to yourself every morning. Reflect on them throughout the day when you see them show up in your life. And if there are strengths you want to cultivate, try adding those to the list as a reminder of the direction in which you want to grow. Because no matter how strong we are, we can always get stronger…but only if we remember that we have the power to use our existing strengths and cultivate new ones any time we choose. I hope you choose to be strong today!
