Strengths and Weaknesses

Awhile back I took the Strength Finders 2.0 test. (It was fascinating and I highly recommend it for everyone!) I went in to it feeling pretty darn confident that I knew what my top 5 strengths would be. I was right on 3/5. Two were fairly surprising, being I hadn't even put them in my list of secondary strengths.  My 5 strengths are as follows.

Communication

People who are especially talented in the Communication theme generally find it easy to put their thoughts into words. They are good conversationalists and presenters.

 Woo

People who are especially talented in the Woo theme love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over. They derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with another person.

 Consistency

People who are especially talented in the Consistency theme are keenly aware of the need to treat people the same. They try to treat everyone in the world with consistency by setting up clear rules and adhering to them.

 Positivity

People who are especially talented in the Positivity theme have an enthusiasm that is contagious. They are upbeat and can get others excited about what they are going to do.

 Input

People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.

The ones I was surprised about were Consistency and Input. Once I read the definitions and really thought about it, I could see how that made sense. I often think about my strengths when I'm in work and social situations. I think about how I can use these strengths to create a better environment for me and those around me.  But I got to pondering the other day (sometimes I do that) and I had this realization - just as people always talk about how our weaknesses can be our strengths, strengths can also be the source of our greatest weaknesses. I am a perfect example. It has often been characteristics of these 5 strengths that have put me in positions in which I am very, very weak.

I will give a general example. #2 on my list is Woo. Send me into a social situation (say a bar, for example), and I am most happy when I can just flit and float from person to person, meeting new people, finding out about them, etc. etc. By the end of an evening I have made many new acquaintances, learned many things about people and shared many "interesting" tidbits about myself. That's fine! It's a great skill to have when job interviewing, finding a new church, etc.
However, one of my top 5 strengths is not prudence. So sometimes I have a hard time finding the line of "how much information is too much to share with someone I just met." Also, I tend to lack sensitivity and don't think about the fact that I may have gone to the bar with someone who is not as social as I am, and came to spend time with me and then I have ditched them in favor of meeting and chatting with many other people whilst they are left alone feeling quite uncomfortable. And possibly hurt. Or angry.

That being said, I was thinking the other day that it's great to know what my strengths are so that I can hone them, use them to my advantage. But I would like it if someone put together a "Weakness Finders 2.0" test. I can sit and list of a lot of weaknesses I'm aware of: stubbornness, impatience, anger... (I could go on and on) but I have a feeling that if I could really identify my 5 greatest weaknesses, 1) I might be surprised as to what they actually are (kind of like consistency and input - once they are identified they make sense but I never would have identified them myself) and 2) I could make a solid effort and strengthening those areas. I have a feeling putting concentrated effort in to those areas would automatically clean up a lot of other areas in my life. But right now, just looking at list of 5 strengths and what i feel is a list of 5000 weaknesses, I don't even know where to start. It's so daunting.

So if you, reader, are someone who's interested in psychology and have an entrepreneurial kind of brain (I do not), I charge you with coming up with a "Weaknesses" test.  I would take it!