Hi leaders! We’re here for episode 74.
Ok, I know at first glance weakness is not a popular topic. It’s not exciting. It’s not trendy or entertaining or even interesting really. But as crazy big dreamers and high-achieving leaders, there are qualities that set you above the rest.
This is one of those qualities. Leaders that take the time and thought and put the work into knowing what their weakness is, most certainly experience the results from this.
What I’ve learned about high-achievers in Direct Sales is that they tend to think about their weakness in three different ways. As I share, think about which one you relate to the most.
The First is: Unenlightened. Some leaders simply don’t fully know what their weaknesses are. They focus on fun, what they enjoy, and what they’re good at, and quite simply don’t give it much thought or attention.
Indifference is what comes to mind for me here when I come across leaders that it’s simply not on their radar.
The Second is: Avoidance. Some leaders know what their weakness is and they simply avoid it. Altogether. No shame, friends. If this is you and you’re listening, awesome! You’re in the right place. Stick around. And great work for engaging on this topic.
The Third and I would argue this is probably the most common, especially for leaders at your success level, is they are well aware of their weakness and they dwell on it. They think about it all the time, they know when a situation arises and it hits point blank on a particular area they just ugh are so aware of they think about it and think about it and overthink it and ruminate about it.
Here’s the thing about weaknesses. They can seep into our thoughts and we mentally sort of beat ourselves up about it but don’t necessarily take the time to sit down and address it.
You are not alone. Incredibly common.
Let’s think about weakness as anything that gets in the way of your strengths.
We can’t be strong in every area. Not every skill or characteristic or leadership quality can be a strength. It’s simply not possible.
Therefore, each and every one of us has a weakness.
Weakness “fixing” does not lead to success. This is a myth.
The strategy that can set you apart from the rest is that you
1 You know your weakness.
2 You embrace it.
3 You learn to manage it instead of trying to fix it.
You want to get to know your weakness just like you know your strengths.
The difference for leaders taking themselves and their business to the next level is that yes, of course, building your strengths leads to success.
Managing your weakness also leads to success.
It starts with reframing for yourself the whole concept of weakness.
You simply have to know what yours is if you’re going to manage it. And by managing it, you lead yourself to more success!
I’ll give you one of my personal examples of strengths and weaknesses.
One of my strengths is that I am empathetic. I can sense other people’s feelings by imagining myself in their lives or situations. Pretty great strength given what I do.
Or should I say, I put this strength to good use every day with what I do. And It’s why I feel my purpose and my passion has come together in my work.
I know what to say and how to say it. I’m acutely in tune with all the emotions a human can feel.
Because of the emotional awareness I bring to conversations I can ease the stress for people when they’re about to make an important decision, for example.
By nature, I encourage people to express their deep thoughts and feelings. People feel comfortable sharing with me.
There have been countless times I’ll meet someone for the first time, ask them one question about themselves and they tell me a lot. At the end, they will often say “It was so fun getting to know you!” And I said nothing about myself. I think it’s so funny.
Building this strength over the years, of being empathetic has led to success in my work. No doubt.
Let’s talk about a weakness of mine. Administration. Ugh. Who’s with me? Paperwork, finding a password or keeping track of them or scanning something, or never-ending follow-up phone calls on let’s say a medical bill that’s not accurate. Ahhh. or anything like this. Ugh, I am well aware it’s a weakness of mine. I don’t like it. Any of it.
And to know this is vital to my success. Because I know this is a weakness, because I have embraced it, I have not tried to fix it, I have managed it. I have systems. I have specific time set aside, a very limited amount of time, to work on these types of things for both my business and my personal life.
It’s a limited amount of time so I know I won’t be spending very much time. I can move on to the next thing. I schedule something else or a break right afterward as a little reward or incentive to get through it.
There are just some things only I can do. I create an environment for myself. Music, a candle, a favorite beverage.
I manage this weakness of mine. It absolutely would have hindered my success had I not been aware of it or avoided it. And it certainly would have held me back if I knew it was my weakness, but dwelled on it and never addresses it.
So, what about you as a leader? Are you aware of your leadership weakness? Do you know it yet avoid it. Or are you very well aware of your weakness, and you dwell on it, but maybe haven’t fully embraced it or learned to manage it?
I hope this episode has stretched your thinking in a positive direction about how you look at your weakness.
And if all this talk about finding more success by embracing your weakness has you curious, know I cover this in a one-time strategy session. You’ll know your top strengths and how to build them. You’ll know your weakness and how to manage it. All leading to more success!
You can email me at tammy@nullcrazybigdreams.biz or message me through Instagram @yourcrazybigdreams.
The best is yet to come, friend. Always.
