Put your strengths to work to strengthen your opportunities

“The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.”

~Benjamin Disraeli

We will take a look at how to use your strengths to strengthen your opportunities.

First, let us talk about why you need to strive to work on operating on your strengths MOST of the time.

Everyday, we are engaged in activities. These activities fall into various categories –

• Things that we love to do
• Things that we want to do and
• Things that we have to do.

When you are doing what you love, you are typically operating on your strengths. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the reverse is true too – if you are operating on your strengths you will be loving what you do.

Now let us talk about opportunities.

Whatever be the times we are in, there is never a time where there are lack of opportunities. If there is one thing that we are lacking, it is the capacity to capitalize on the opportunities that are presented.

What about bad times or tough times?

What about them? Think about it – when times are tough, there are bigger opportunities as there are bigger problems to be solved. When do people need more help – during good times or bad? It is a question of your capacity to embrace those opportunities that matter.

Today we are seeing unprecedented tough times across the globe. The tendency may be to take up and quickly “grab” an opportunity that presents itself. If it so happens that this is the opportunity where you can put your strengths to work, then it’s a great decision. For some reason, it’s not, it is not an opportunity but a longsuffering disguised in the clothes of an opportunity.

Yes, any opportunity may give you some strengths. But it is your strengths that can strengthen the opportunities that you have. You are reasonably competent in doing many things, but if you engage in activities where you can use your strengths MOST of the time, those are the opportunities where you will flourish.

Take an inventory of the opportunities that you are currently working on, or considering working on. Now imagine a typical day in your life as you engage with this opportunity. Think about how your day begins, how your day progresses and how your day ends.

If you are working on your strengths most of the day, it will be a fulfilling day and you will automatically strengthen your opportunities leading to more opportunities and so on – it is a virtuous cycle.

As you might have guessed, the opposite is true too. If you are NOT working on your strengths most of the day, it won’t be a fulfilling day and you won’t give your best to the opportunities that you are working on – leading to less exciting opportunities and so on – it is a vicious cycle.

You owe it to yourself to start getting into the virtuous cycle of opportunities and you can do that only if you use your strengths to strengthen your opportunities.

By the way, have you ever considered the fact that your next interaction with the world may be an opportunity?