Fix a weakness or build a strength?

It’s a pretty straightforward question: to improve your performance at work should you fix your weaknesses or build on your strengths? But where would you place your bets?

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Yet a growing body of research suggestsfocusing on our strengths can boost our engagement in tasks by up to six times, making it easier to achieve our goals, lower our levels of stress and improve our feelings of well-being.It seems eighty-seven percent of us believe we should take dead aim at our weaknesses and work diligently to improve them.

So which should you be doing?

I believe you should do both – which might sound surprising come from someone who’s trained thousands of people around the world to use their strengths.

Let me be clear.  I believe you should be as capable at identifying and fixing your weaknesses, as you are at identifying and building on your strengths. 

I also believe you should be able to make an informed choice so in different situations, for different outcomes, you know which approach will serve you best.

Why do you need both?

Researchers have found your greatest successes and greatest growth comes from regularly using your strengths in your work.  This is because your brain is hardwired to perform at it’s best by drawing on the thoughts, feelings and behaviours you’ve practiced over and over and over again, because they’re things you like doing and you’re good at.

No matter what situation I’m faced with, I always start by seeing if there’s a strength I can build on.  The reality is using my strengths makes things easier, more engaging and more enjoyable, meaning it takes less effort and time to see the results I want.

For example, one of my strengths is curiosity.  I love learning new things.  When I need to master something I haven’t done before my strength of curiosity is a great way to get me to dive into figuring things out.

But what if you don’t have a strength that would help?

Scientists now know our brains continue learning right throughout our lives, so it’s absolutely possible to take a weakness and turn it into a strength.  But, it’s important to be realistic about the amount of effort this requires.

Current estimates are that it takes between 8,000 and 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to take a weakness and master it.  Put that into context and we’re talking about a couple of hours a day, every day a year for about 8 – 10 years.

Are you being realistic about your weaknesses?

If I don't have a strength to draw upon and fixing the area of weakness is important enough that I’m willing to invest the 8 – 10 years of effort, then I set realistic expectations and start showing up.

For example, when I discovered the field of positive psychology, my strengths were purely in the domain of marketing.  Not a huge amount of help.  I knew my strength of curiosity could help me stick at what I needed to learn, but I was also realistic about the time and effort it would take to close my knowledge gap.  And then I put in the hours of practice.

Had I walked away simply because I didn’t have a psychology strength to build on, I would have missed out on the most rewarding work I’ve ever done.

So what’s the right question to be asking?

When it comes to improving my performance I’ve learnt to always ask: in this particular situation, for this particular outcome, am I better to build on my strengths or fix my weaknesses? 

Now where would you place your next bet?

Michelle is a Premium member of Business Chicks, request her online business card and connect with her here. 

Michelle McQuaid is a best-selling author, workplace well-being teacher and playful change activator.  She is passionate about translating cutting-edge research from positive psychology and neuroscience, into practical strategies for health, happiness, and business success.

She holds a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania  and her work has been featured in Forbes, the Harvard Business Review, the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post and more.

Michelle lives to help women discover their strengths, move beyond their fears, and finally discover what it truly takes to flourish with confidence.

What’s The Secret To Flourishing?

What’s The Secret To Flourishing?

What does it take to make your well-being last?  Day in, day out, through the natural highs and lows of life?

Ever had one of those moments where you feel like you’re truly flourishing?  When everything seems to magically come together – what you’re doing, who you’re doing it with, how you’re feeling about it and where it’s taking you in life.

There’s no doubt I’ve had moments of flourishing like this in my career.  The problem was it always seemed more serendipity than strategy, meaning I never knew when these moments were going to land, or how how long they were going to last!

Until I discovered there was a formula for flourishing. Want to know what it suggests?

What scientists discovered about flourishing

Professor Martin Seligman from the University of Pennsylvania, and one of the founders of the field of positive psychology, has proposed a new theory of well-being based on a growing body of evidence of what it takes for people to flourish.  The science suggests we perform at our best when we have a presence of:

• Healthy levels of positive emotions
• Regular opportunities for engagement
• The support of good relationships
• A general sense of meaning
• Genuine feelings of accomplishment

Otherwise known as PERMA.

It’s a simple theory of well-being, but there is evidence to suggest that each of these elements can help us feel happier leading us to feel more motivated, efficient, resilient, creative, collaborative and productive.  I don’t know about you, but I could sure use a bit more of that!

In today’s new episode of Chelle McQuaid TV, I’ll share with you just how you can go about improving each of these elements to help you to flourish.

How can you consistently flourish?

If you haven’t yet figured out how your well-being is faring, then take the free survey on my website and see how you’re doing.

Then put at least one of the tested, practical approaches to improve your level of flourishing into action today. Try to start this as a small, everyday habit – even for just ten minutes a day if you’re very busy – and see how it begins to impact your ability to flourish.

Want more on how to flourish?  You can read more about it here in Seligman’s book “Flourish”and watch him talk more about how this new theory to well-being differs from the simple pursuit of happiness with Jeremy Paxman on the BBC .

And if you want a little help on your flourishing exercises just ask below!

- See more at: http://www.michellemcquaid.com/secret-to-flourishing/#sthash.uZBho4Js.dpuf

Can You Live Happily Ever After?

Will Your Happiness Last?

Have you ever gotten something you’ve longed for, or even dreamed of, only to find a strange twist often follows “…happily ever after”?

It’s that moment where you realize despite having exactly what you want, the shine has somehow worn off and instead of feeling like you’re flourishing you feel completely flat – maybe even weighed down – by what you’ve so hard to get.

I experienced this first hand when I was about 33 years old and landed the job of my dreams in New York.  My role let me travel around the world.  I had wonderful family and friends.  I was in great health.  And had more money than one girl needed to spend.

Instead of flourishing however, it was all I could do each day just to get out of bed.  I was exhausted, stressed out and miserable.

At first I thought I just needed a kick up the you-know-where to appreciate all I had.  When that didn’t work I started to wonder if perhaps I was going a little mad.  Until I uncovered a scientific discovery that put lasting happiness and well-being more practically within my grasp.  Want to know what it was?

How scientists discovered we adapt

Back in the 1970′s psychologists monitored Illinois State Lottery winners who’d won between $50,000 and $1 million.  A fairly positive life changing event that most people expected would let them live happily ever after.

It turns out however, just 12 months later, these winners were no happier than people who’d won nothing at all. So what’s going on?

The truth is human beings have a tremendous capacity to adapt to new relationships, jobs, and wealth, with the result that even such positive life changes yield fewer and fewer rewards with time.  Scientists call this phenomenon “hedonic adaptation.”

Hedonic adaptation explains why both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat abate with time.

What’s particularly fascinating about this phenomenon, however, is that it’s most pronounced with respect to our happiest experiences. Indeed, it turns out that we’re prone to take for granted pretty much everything positive that happens to us. It’s why happiness never seems to last.

How does this happen?  Professor Sonja Lyubomirksy in her new book, “The Myths Of Happiness“, suggests adaptation is caused by the toll of creeping normalcy and the constant ramping up of expectations that causes us to seek out more, more and more.

While the rate at which we adapt to happiness seems to vary between people and situations, there can be no doubt that our brains thrive on novelty which is why happiness and well-being should never be the destination but the journey.

The good news is Lyubomirsky and her colleagues have found it’s possible to train our brains to overcome, forestall or at least slow down hedonic adaptation and in today’s new episode of Chelle McQuaid TV, I’ll share with you how you can use these approaches to help you consistently flourish.

How can you manage adaptation?

Personally I think over the years adaptation has probably been the thing that most undid my happiness and well-being.  Things that once made me flourish would stop working and I’d give up in a fit of despair.

Turns out all I really needed to be doing was practicing gratitude consistently, sprinkling a good dose of novelty across my well-being approaches and being clear on why some activities were important to me even when they became a little boring.  Most importantly I needed to stop comparing myself to others to put and end to always wanting more, more and more to head off adaptation.

Which of these approaches can you use to reclaim your sense of happiness and well-being from the creeping shadows of adaptation?

You can read more about it here in Lyubomirksy’s book “The Myths of Happiness”and watch her talk more about adaptation here .

And if you want a little help managing adaptation just ask!

- See more at: http://www.michellemcquaid.com/making-happiness-last/