Identifying Your Key Strengths and Weaknesses - 3 Tips to Help You Do So

Identifying your strengths is one of the most important steps you can take to reach success. You must regularly practice identifying your unique strengths to identify the best environments for you to thrive and seek those opportunities where you can use your skills and strengths the most. Your personal qualities, personality characteristics and past experiences all contribute to your special talents in different fields and may make you better suited to certain jobs or even careers than others. When you know where you are strong in terms of your talents, you will be able to find a niche in the field where you can use your talents to maximum effect. Here are seven tips that will help you identify your strong points and improve on them.


Research on your strengths and weaknesses. To know your strong and weak points, you must know your true personality type. There are two main types: extroverts who are highly creative and extroverts who are highly logical and have low self-confidence. As such, personality assessments such as the Myers-Brigg Type Indicator can help you assess your own strengths and weaknesses.

Put aside the weaknesses. The most common mistake made by most people who want to develop their skills and move on to the next level is overlooking their weaknesses. These weaknesses are actually your greatest strength. It is only when you recognize your weaknesses that you can find your special qualities and work on using these strengths in the best way possible. To do this, you will need to learn how to properly handle the things within your control and turn your weaknesses into your strengths.

Take stock of your personality strengths and weaknesses. After you know your own strengths and weaknesses, you need to identify what makes you uniquely qualified to do the job. For instance, some job candidates are naturally good at technical and problem-solving tasks. On the other hand, others have excellent communication skills and are great at painting vivid images. Identifying your own character strengths will give you a distinct advantage over other job candidates. If you are able to pinpoint your unique skill set, then it means you have found your best potentials and you are better equipped to land the job of your dreams.

Look for your talents and interests. Identify your strengths and weaknesses by looking at your talents, skills, interests, passions, and personality traits. You should also consider your passion and purpose. If you have no interests or passions, then evaluate whether your talents or skills are related to a field where you have an interest. For example, if you are great at communicating, but don't really enjoy talking about computers, then you might have a communication problem, which could be solved if you attended a communication course.

Then, use the strengths and weaknesses that you identified in your personality test to determine your most desirable personality traits. These can include your extroversion, your agreeableness, your conscientiousness, your creativity, your openness to new experiences, and your positive personality. Your top strengths could also be your most desirable personality traits.

The third step in identifying strengths and weaknesses is external self-awareness. Ask yourself, "What do I really want to do?" When you ask yourself such a question, it is because you are interested in pursuing a particular field or area. For example, if you really want to be a writer, then you will have different strengths and weaknesses than if you were interested in the medical field. Identifying your own interest will help you decide on the best line of career for you.

Finally, pay attention to the activities and projects that you enjoy. If you enjoy what you do, then you will be more likely to succeed in your job. If you like helping people, then you will have strong self-motivation. You will be able to identify your key strengths and weaknesses and know what to do to develop your talents and interests.