Raffaele Funky Flute

I bumped into this book (Strengthsfinder 2.0) last month. Although it could be categorized under the usual “you are dissatisfied with your boring life here is a little story about yourself that will cheer you up for a couple of days” sort of books, it does have some interesting concepts.

Here is the main one:
If you want to say something to the world you’d better do something you are good at. (Grazie al cazzo) Obvious? not quite.

I grew up in a fix-your-weaknesses environment (mostly school) and there was one rule: you are good at maths? nice, now do some Italian Literature ‘cuz you suck at it. If there is something you can’t do naturally, well, study hard, work your ass off and you’ll succeed. I don’t think this is the only way to go and the book is on the same page.

Great minds and spirits (the ones that are remembered after their deaths, or the ones that do something for the world we are in, or, very simply, just the ones that do something that they enjoy doing) have another approach: they do what they are talented at. They do something that they are programmed for, so they don’t have to spend energies in adapting their mind to that activity: their mind is already meant to do that. Apparently -the book says- everybody has some talents; apparently, even if you feel not talented at all, there must be something that you enjoy doing, and that just happens effortlessly. Everybody has some talents. Think about yourself when you were 10 years old. Ask your mum and your dad as they probably remember. There were things that came to you naturally and others that didn’t. The book says that if you focus on your strengths, you will probably enjoy a better life.

So here is my opinion: I believe that the fix-your-weakness approach must be experienced in some way, because it prepares you to face difficulties -that will inevitably pop out on your life journey- for which you are not prepared. However, it’s probably wiser, at some points of life, to back off and see whether you have just embarked in a job that you hate with all your heart or you are really planning on taking advantage of your talents. I also believe that some societies don’t push this kind of reasoning, and neglect to have their individuals really ask themselves what their true path is. As a result, there is a quite big amount of educated, mid-class, frustrated people nowadays.

The book also has a psychological test and comes up with what it thinks your strengths are. Here are mine, still have to figure out how accurate this response is:

Futuristic, Learner, Communicator, Self-assurer, Activator, Minchione

I’ll try to put the aforementioned at work and keep you guy posted

RSS 2.0 feed.
trackback from your own site.