Strengthen your Strengths -Chitra Jha

Close your eyes and imagine yourself walking into a room. Here you meet the ‘you’ of ten years from now. How does this person look? What is he wearing? Where does he live? What kind of lifestyle does he lead? What does he do? Is he an entrepreneur or a business executive? How successful is he? What is his net worth? Go ahead, ask him these questions and let your inner-self answer you.

If you were given only three choices about the ‘you of the future’, which one would you choose?

a) Someone worse than what you are now. Not doing well in life, depressed, and broke.

b) Exactly how you are now. Absolutely no change in your position, but contented.

c) A far more successful, happier, wealthier version of the present you.

Anyone with an iota of confidence and aspiration will choose the third option. Of course no one wants to be worse off than he is at present today, nor is it a good thing to stagnate; so the only option would be to move forward. Now the extent to which you move forward within a given time depends entirely on how well you use your unique strengths.

The other day I was reading a forwarded mail, which contained Mr. Azim Premji’s famous speech on what he has learnt during the course of his stupendously successful life. I love this speech and never tire of quoting from it. According to Mr. Premji, we must always begin with our strengths. To illustrate his point he tells this story of an imaginary rabbit. This rabbit was enrolled in a rabbit school. Like all rabbits, it could hop very well but could not swim. At the end of the year, the rabbit got high marks in hopping but failed in swimming. The parents were concerned. They said, “Forget about hopping. You are anyway good at it. Concentrate on swimming.” They sent the rabbit for tuitions in swimming. And guess what happened? The rabbit forgot how to hop! As for swimming, have you ever seen a rabbit swim?

This story sums up the general thrust of our focus not only in preparing for an MBA, or while writing other exams, but also at every step in our lives. But as Mr. Premji says, “While it is important for us to know what we are not good at, we must also cherish what is good in us. That is because it is only our strengths that can give us the energy to correct our weaknesses.”

So with this beautiful lesson in mind, ask yourself some more questions now:

 What are my strengths?

 How can I build them further?

 How can I use my strengths to correct my weaknesses?

 Am I using my strengths on a daily basis?

 If not, then how can I use my strengths for test preparation, at work, and in life for a bigger purpose?

 What is my bigger purpose?

These questions will lead you to do some soul searching, and the answers that you get will lead you on the path to success. When you sincerely ask yourself, “Why is my life not the way I want it to be?” the only answer you will get is that you are not using your strengths to the fullest. We all have our strengths: strength of purpose, strength of conviction, strength of character, the ability to work hard, the ability to learn easily, the ability to apply what we learn and so on…. You need to identify your strengths.

When do you feel most energized and happiest? These must be the times when you are doing what you love to do. Think of those times. What are the strengths that you bank upon or exhibit during these times? Be proud of those, and think of new ways to incorporate these abilities into other areas of your life. Using your strengths, strengthen them. As they say, “Use it or lose it”. This applies to everything in our lives.

For the purpose of taking CAT, you can think of strength in terms of your subject matter. Are you good at vocabulary? Is grammar your strong point or is it critical reasoning? What about comprehension? Do you enjoy reading? How good are your logical skills? What about data interpretation? Do you work better under pressure? How quick are you in solving quantitative problems? Are your basic fundas clear? Do you speak well and confidently? Are you clear about your aspirations? Do you carry yourself well? Are you in tune with world affairs? Honest answers to these questions will give you a list of your strengths.

I believe that all of us carry certain inherent abilities within us that are waiting to be identified, revealed and expressed. Your strengths have been given to you to contribute to your progress and make an impact on your life. You are meant to use those in a constructive way in order to build a better future for yourself. Once you realize this truth and take action, you will not only energize your own self, but your entire environment.

You need to dream big, but just dreams are not enough; you need to develop the habits of a winner. By a ‘winner’ I mean someone who, by his own definition of winning and losing, is pulling himself ahead in the game and achieving what he set out to achieve. Winning is not just about working hard, it is more about maintaining or losing motivation.

So, psyche yourself about achieving your goal. Know that you just have to do it this time. Get ready, follow a careful plan of working on your strengths and using them to overcome your weaknesses, and stay determined. You already have a picture of where you want to be in about ten years’ time, so just take off! Don’t get distracted by life, make your life an ally. Don’t lose focus. Review your goal each day, several times a day if needed. Concentrate on ‘what’ you need to be doing and ‘when’ you need to be doing it.

You deserve to achieve your goals, and once you optimize your strengths, your goals are as good as achieved!

As always, EXPECT success!!

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