The world of sport is focused on performance, as our aim is often to improve and get better, we spend most of our time and energy focusing on what didn't go well and our weaknesses so we know what to work on in our training sessions.
But we argue that it's time to shift you focus to your strengths and what is going well, (for yourself and for the people around you).
Know your strengths...
Have a little think about the following list and identify the things that you feel you are good at (these may be as a coach, an athlete, a student or any other area of you life).
Taking charge
Coming up with solutions
Connecting with people
Staying calm
Having fun
Persistence
Listening to others
There are a lot more strengths we could add here but these are some examples to get you started. Think about specifics for your sport or for your role as a coach or the position you play.
Why it can help to have more of a strengths focus...
By exploring our strengths it allows us to become more self aware and celebrate what we are capable of.
If we only focus on our 'weaknesses' or what we need to get better at we may find ourselves in a spiral of nothing being good enough which can really knock our confidence. Shift to a positives first and strengths focus and we can really start to thrive by doing more of what we are good at (we can improve on other things too but that shouldn't be our only focus).
You'll be happier as you navigate life with a more positive outlook.
Focusing on strengths when working with others...
When we get frustrated in work, team or group environments it can be really tempting to focus on other people's weaknesses and what they are doing wrong.
How can you have a more positive influence on the people around you? Celebrate their strengths, work together so you can both bring your strengths to a situation and work on weaknesses together.
Ask for help and support from others who have strengths that are different to yours so you can compliment each others way of working.
How do your strengths benefit others? And how do other people's strengths benefit you?
With a better grasp of your strengths, you'll see greater potential to make contributions to the environment you are in. Celebrating others strengths will also make for a much healthier and happier environment with a solid foundation to then build on your weakness and areas you want to improve on as an individual and as a collective.
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