Could you give yourself a moment to rediscover what is hidden within you and in plain sight?
Something that your child will notice and what you’ll notice in them.
It is common when we are overwhelmed, tired or having a ‘misery moment’ to forget what we are actually good at – our strengths.
Research says working to our strengths is associated with life satisfaction
Strengths like other strengths – they are friends – so if you think you only have one, you’ll have another.
Sometimes we use our strengths in overdrive. You might be familiar with this. It shows up as too organised, too attentive or too kind.
Think about what happens to you when your strengths are in overdrive mode. Do you get on people’s nerves, do you get taken advantage of (too kind is a perfect example)?
Good news is, actioning your strengths in overdrive doesn’t diminish life satisfaction – you can still be happy! The key is to learn to manage the overdrive and there are plenty of skills and strategies around this.
Strengths and your inner critic are not besties
So why is important to know your strengths?
- Your inner critic usually shouts about what you are not good at; knowing your strengths means you can ‘back chat’ that inner critic – quieten it.
- Quietening the inner critic leads to a more content life.
- Drawing on our strengths build resilience – resilience gets up and over the tough times.
How can you build your child's strengths?
If you have children, you are modelling your strengths every day. They are watching how you use them for good and challenging times. Within the first six years, children discover their strengths just like they do their language.
You can reward your child’s display of strengths, even as babies. It is as simple as acknowledging and naming the strength. This puts it in their memory too.