I’ve been doing lots of reading and reflection on strengths and happiness. Well, I’m always reading and reflecting but this is a bit more focused. Sorta.

The Beginning.

It kind of started when Crystal of Big Bright Bulb brought up the “If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich” question. Someone had asked her that question and she, and rightly so, got rather annoyed.

Which led me to think about focus (sneaky thing), intelligence, skills, strengths, happiness, competence… which led me to dig up my DISC profile I took after reading 48 Days to the Work You Love (I’m a “Communicator” by the way) and sharing it with the ever-helpful Yolanda who urged me to pick up Now Discover Your Strengths.

And Jen, the Comfort Queen, surprised me with this synchronicitous post on Strengths yesterday morning, so I took it as a sign I needed to explore this a bit more. And I thank Sting for teaching me the meaning of Synchronicity.

Indulging my personality test addiction.

I took the StrengthsFinder test with the code in the book I bought this week & discovered them (adaptability, strategic, ideation, intellection & input). All of that means I’m a strategic thinker who can’t really follow through on the strategy because she gets bored easily, loves coming up with new ideas, tends to the intellectual/introspective and can move quickly from one thing to another.

Confession: I also bought the StrengthsFinder 2.0 Kindle version just so I could get the code for the latest version of the StrengthsFinder inventory. Yes, I got the same results, but it also offered 10 suggestions to improve on each of your strengths.

I’m also thinking of buying the updated version of 48 days…

Did I mention I’m kind of a self-discovery/development nut? I think it comes with the Psychology degree.

So where am I with this now?

Still slogging through, but I think all these profiles and reflection are helping me see what I’ve done and what I’m doing more clearly. I see those strengths and qualities within me, and I’m getting a bit jazzed (thanks, Jen) by the prospect of  improving my strengths instead of my weaknesses (organization, follow-through, patience, focus (!), persistence). I truly don’t need another excuse to dwell on why I suck…

This is also helping me refine my offerings at Thrive Creative Coaching, and going a long way to figuring out how I’m going to structure my biz.

A Positive Psychology Primer

(note: if psychology makes you want to gouge your eyes out, I promise it won’t be long, or you can just skip this section…)

I have a BA in Psychology as I mentioned before and this is part of what drives my need to figure myself and others out. Since I graduated, positive psychology has gained more influence, and I’ve been reading a lot of books on it. I’ve mainly focused on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s work on creativity. And please don’t ask me to pronounce his last name.

It’s not a new branch of psychology. I guess you could say that Positive Psychology began way back with Plato’s and Aristotle’s inquiry into what makes up a good life. It also incorporates the work of more recent humanist psychologists like Maslow (heirarchy of needs & self-actualization), others who focused on self-efficacy and giftedness and has been championed by Dr. Martin Seligman.

The Discover Your Strengths book and Gallup’s work on the StrengthsFinder profile are just a couple of results from Positive Psychology. There’s even a Positive Psychology iPhone App called “Live Happy” that gives exercises and techniques to help you live a happier life.

If you really want to read more, here’s UPenn’s website for Positive Psychology and Dr. Seligman’s Authentic Happiness site and a list of Positive Psychology readings & videos.

(now back to the stuff…)

So, this is what I have so far:

Work on improving what I’m no good at = torture, misery, reduces self-esteem and confidence through repeated failure, no motivation to push through the suck

Work on improving what I’m good at = fun, exciting, increases self-esteem and confidence through successes, motivation to push through the suck

And because I’ve been reading/listening to folks like Lee & Johnny on their Question the Rules product* and Mark Silver about heart-based goal setting….

Why I’m not rich yet, although I’ve been told I’m smart: I tend to dwell on my weaknesses and ignore my strengths, so I stay in a place where I’m not using my strengths. What I really want isn’t money, but a lifestyle & feeling, and that’s closer than I think.

I’ll do some more thinking and a bit more writing on all of this, but I’m liking this direction.

So, what do you think?

Leave comments below please.

*Yes, it’s an affiliate link… the amazon links aren’t, however. I have no problem with you paying them directly, but why not help out more than one person in one go?

photo credit: tibchris