work on your strengths

Back to school this week for most (although I know in Scotland they have gone back a couple of weeks ago!), and parents can begin to breathe a sigh of relief.

A great article by Shane Parrish at Farnam Street talks about how school tests weaknesses but life rewards strengths.

“Spending more time on our weakest areas is tempting, but life mostly rewards us for investing in our strengths. Imagine a student who struggles with math but excels at writing. In school, they might spend hours raising their math grades from a C to a B. However, spending the same time on writing might move them from an A to an A+. Focusing on math makes sense when you're taught to think in grades. It doesn't make sense if you think about life. The difference between an A and an A+ in writing ability might mean the difference between a New York Times bestseller read by millions and a book that only 100 people read.”

When I was fortunate enough to be a line manager, I used to talk about something similar but compared it to football. I like to say that you would never ask Leo Messi to practice more with his right foot. He is arguably the best player to have played the game and has the best left foot ever. His coaches harnessed this as opposed to distracting him by working on his weaker right foot so he could be an “all-rounder”.

Work on your strengths and make them so strong that they become your superpower.