A few weeks ago, Chris Penn posted the following question on Twitter:
Assume you can do only one. Do you enhance your strengths or mitigate your weaknesses? Why?
I jumped all over it. My response:
Easy. Enhance strengths. Bigger payoff to be best at something than so-so. I’m a big believer in focusing on what you are good at.
Chris followed up his Twitter question with a blog post titled Strengths, weaknesses, tanks, DPS in which he listed all responses, made a connection to World of Warcraft (of course), and discussed some marketing implications.
I do a ton of self-reflection. I think it’s important to always be evaluating. Know your strengths and capitalize on them. Understand your weaknesses and accept them. This does not mean that you should not try to improve upon the things you are not good at. It’s just that if you focus your day on improving your deficiencies, you take away from time to shine. In some ways you become pretty good at many things, but not great at any one.
6 Things I Suck At
So, with that setup, I thought it was time to actually list the things I suck at. I’m sure there are more than the 6 I’ve outlined below, but this is a start.
- Saying no. I love helping people. I love trying new things. (I love beer and coffee too, but that’s not related to this point). I’ve always taken on more than I can actually tackle. In some ways I believe this is what has made me successful, but at times it causes me to miss deadlines and not give 100%.
- Sense of direction. When I come to a (literal) fork in the road, if the correct direction is left, I’ll go right. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been lost in my own city. I know that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, but I still have no idea where I am. Even when I lived in Rochester, NY, I didn’t know which way North was (Lake Ontario was North).
- Focusing on a single task. I’m a multi-tasker. My mom always tells me that it’s bad for me. She’s usually right, but I just cannot seem to focus on one single task for too long. I’m not going to self-diagnose with Adult ADHD, but it’s something like that.
- Starting a project. I’m no good at diving into a task. Once I get into it, I love it. Starting … not so much.
- Basketball. I played a bit in junior high. I’m decent at defense, but I just can’t shoot the rock. Lots of airballs and bricks. Good thing my current or any future jobs don’t require me to be a good hoops player.
- Driving at night. I’m not sure if it has to do with wearing contacts or the fact that I’m 34, but I just can’t see so well at night.
So there you have it. I feel so much better now. How about you?
Now, of course, it’s your turn. What do you suck at? Care to share below? You’ll feel better admitting to it. Trust me.
DJ Waldow
@djwaldow
