For the last dozen years I have been a disciple of strengths-based work and understanding what I am called to do. Chances are you have not heard of strengths-based work or, at best, you are not familiar with it.
For the uninitiated, simply put, strengths-based work means I focus on what I AM GOOD AT, not what I am poorly fit to do.
This past
weekend I attended a seminar at Gateway Church in Southlake, TX, to get a better
handle on my Christian identity and to my surprise, they embraced the Gallup
Strengths Finder and a spiritual gifts finder hand in hand to help plot my
course.
During my time in sales
with Johnson & Johnson EVERY field ride was the same- NEGATIVE. I would
hear things like “You know anatomy & procedure very well, you know instrumentation, you are very good
with your customers, BUT we wish you were better at this or that.” These items
on their wish list were invariably clerical in nature- minutiae if you will,
that did not enhance my relationship, sales or customer service. Just one area
to work on to make me a more-rounded employee. It frustrated me and my
colleagues no end because at the time, no one knew any better. Today, many are
still laboring under these arcane ideas.
The Gallup organization breaks
strengths into 35 areas or terms. For me, my top 5 are Context (understanding the intent), Responsibility,
Belief (I HAVE to believe to move forward), Includer (I ensure others are included in discussions), WOO (Winning Others Over or persuasion). Few people have the same strengths as me in the same
order. So few in fact, if we extend the list to my top 6 and looked at the nearly 7
billion people on earth, we might find 220 people with the very same strengths
in the same descending order.
Let’s look at the top 8-
there would be approximately .0026 people in the entire world with the same top
8 strengths, in the same descending order as me. Statistically speaking, not even ONE person alive today!
Now, extrapolate that out
to all 35 strengths….
In case you are
wondering how to figure that out, it is simple multiplication with the possible
remaining variables. In other words, 35x34x33x32x31…. all the way down to 1.
Does that give you a sense to the size of that number? HUGE. In astronomical terms,
it would probably be measured in light years! In human terms, it is likely no one has ever existed with the exact same gifts in the exact same order. NO ONE in all of humanity's existence.
Well, that’s all well and
good- so what?
Take another look at the
rankings of YOUR strengths. Since there are so many variables and combinations,
can you not see how unique YOU are? How amazingly designed YOU are?
Can you now see the tragedy the business world has perpetrated against
us and perpetuated in trying to help us with our “weaknesses” and not focusing on the strengths
God gave each of us? And what about the recent "equality" push where we seem to be eliminating gender from the equation in the hopes of making everyone equal. The paradigm is revolutionary and breathtaking.
Rather than continually striving
to be something you can NEVER BE, God has intended us to find work and even
ministry using that which we are already anointed with and in which we will
find fulfillment, and thus peace and a restful heart.
The other thing I found fascinating about this class was how we can use science to confirm God's Intelligent Design! Too many people have failed to understand the argument and have learned they have to choose BETWEEN God and science, but that is a topic for another conversation.
The other thing I found fascinating about this class was how we can use science to confirm God's Intelligent Design! Too many people have failed to understand the argument and have learned they have to choose BETWEEN God and science, but that is a topic for another conversation.
What are you waiting for? Find your strengths and change
your life today!
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