Lets stop this lie ‘You can be anything you want to be, if you just work hard enough’
‘You don’t have to be good at everything Simon, use the natural strengths you have and you will be the best and most successful version of yourself.’ I was 38 when I heard this for the first time in my life, on my first leadership training course in Bangkok. For 38 friking years, 20 million minutes of my life I had thought that I had to be great at everything or I was a failure and would never succeed.
Why had no one told me this sooner? Was it such a huge secret?
Now let's get to the root cause, ‘Simon it’s ok, you can be anything you want to be, if you just work hard enough’ How many of you heard this in your childhood, and how many of you still tell yourself this or even worse tell your kids this?
I spent a huge amount of time in my childhood trying to be good at Math. I had tutors, and extra lessons, and I spent hours trying to grasp the knowledge to excel. No matter how hard I worked on Math it just never came naturally to me to this day. And that’s ok. The reality is this - a person who struggles with numbers is unlikely to be a great accountant or a stat guru. A person who is a natural visionary may not be the best at executing details and operations. And do you know something? It's ok not to be great at everything. Everyone is unique in the strengths, talent, knowledge, and skills they have that help them to do what they do best every day.
So let’s reframe ‘You can be anything you want to be if you just work hard enough to, ‘You cannot be anything you want to be, but you can be the best version of YOU’
Far too many people spend their whole life heading in the wrong direction or suffer feelings of overwhelm, trapped, and frustrated. This is why you must discover your strengths as early as possible. As soon as you discover you’re strengths your life will change. Remember every single one of us has talents that are waiting to be uncovered.
So what's the best way to know your natural strengths and to utilize them to be the best version of you?
INCREASE SELF-AWARENESS
Take an assessment and view your results. Learn more about yourself and raise your self-awareness by recognizing your preferences across personality, strengths, and weaknesses.
INTEGRATE ONGOING COACHING
This is where a lot of people make the mistake of not truly taking the next step to make changes in their life. Most have good intentions but often get stuck or simply lose momentum. If this is you, don’t worry, you aren’t alone on this, it happens.
This is where a coach can help you to stay accountable and get the most out of your assessment. So it does not just become yet another assessment you stash away in your drawer.
Let's look in a little more detail at how a life coach will help you. Think of your coach to be like your personal trainer (but for the mind):
Your coach will be by your side and will encourage you on your quest to become the best version of yourself.
They will examine your current situation and look at your Strength assessment profile.
Most importantly, they will help you fully engage with your strengths. They will help you understand how your strengths show up for you and how you might need to refine them. We want to work with our strengths maturely to avoid over-or underuse so they don’t stand in your way.
A coach will help clarify your goals, vision for success, and roadmap for professional and personal growth.
They will help you gain mastery over your emotions so that you can take the right actions and create the results that you want.
One of the most important, they will help you overcome limiting beliefs that hold you back from success.
A coach will ensure you feel confident about your capabilities and talents.
They will ensure you develop the focus and resilience needed to withstand the stresses and turbulence that get in the way of achieving your goals.
Every person’s journey in life is personal and unique, but life can be hard when you're not working with your strengths. If you are ready to take charge of your life and make the changes needed to create the best life possible, we at ESM Coaching & Consulting can guide you through the process of awareness, action, and results. We will dig deep to explore your strengths, motivations, and beliefs; identify gaps, and how to close them, and create strategies for long-lasting transformation that will impact all aspects of your life.
