The next book I dived into after Cure for the Common Life was Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath. This book contained an online assessment and after completion highlighted 5 areas of strength.
My five strengths are: Ideation, Positivity, Activator , Belief, Connectedness
Ideation: People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.
Instinctively, you occasionally feel a need to update, upgrade, or renovate. Perhaps few things please you more than devising original tactics, inventing new processes, designing useful tools, or proposing innovative solutions. You are fascinated by ideas. You are delighted when you discover beneath the complex surface an elegantly simple concept to explain why things are the way they are. You revel in taking the world we all know and turning it around so we can view it from a strange but strangely enlightening angle.
- Seek a career in which you will be given credit for and paid for your ideas, such as marketing, advertising, journalism or new product design.
- You are likely to get bored quickly, so make some small changes in your work or home life. Experiment. Play mental games with yourself. All of these will help to keep you stimulated.
- You are a natural fit with research and development; you appreciate the mindset of visionaries and dreamers. Spend time with imaginative peers.
Positivity: People who are especially talented in the Positivity theme have an enthusiasm that is contagious.
You are generous with praise, quick to smile, and always on the lookout for positive in the situation. You find ways to make everything more exciting and more vital. Somehow you can’t quite escape your conviction that it is good to be alive, that work can be fun, and that no matter what the setbacks, one must never lose one’s sense of humor.
- You will probably excel in any role in which you are paid to highlight the positive.
- You tend to be more energetic and enthusiastic than most people. When others become discouraged or are reluctant to take risks, your attitude will provide impetus to keep them moving.
- Never underestimate the effect that you cab have on people.
Activator: People who are especially talented in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action.
“When can we start?” This is a recurring question in your life. Only action makes things happen. Only action leads to performance. You know you will be judged not by what you say, not by what you think, but by what you get done. This does not frighten you. It pleases you.
- Seek work in which you can make decisions and act on them.
- You can transform innovative ideas into immediate action.
Belief: People who are especially talented in the Belief theme have certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their life.
You have certain core values that are enduring. These values vary from one person to another. They give your life meaning and satisfaction; in your view success is more than money and prestige.
Connectedness: People who are especially talented in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason.
Driven by your talents, you are genuinely fascinated with the mystery of life.
