September 10, 2021 “Strengthen Your Weaknesses”
Taking a realistic personal inventory of your strengths and weaknesses is a big step in the right direction in an effort to strengthen them.
This week’s article is inspired by George. Our Run-day Monday was pushed to that Tuesday after the holiday. This has become the trend, many people didn’t show up for run-day. For those that were there and saw George he was a beast. He ran “my hill” several times, going back and forth to get people and encouraging them along their run. When someone thanked him, he said I’m great at running, I just suck at the indoor workouts. Although George feels like he sucks, he still shows up for the indoor workouts constantly improving and getting stronger. You know when George is present because his loud screams of motivations to push through the pain can be heard throughout the gym.
There’s power in being strong enough to admit your weaknesses. After all, we all have areas in which we excel, and others in which we could use a little work.
If on your personal growth journey, you can commit to strengthening your weaknesses, you will become a more well-rounded individual and more diligent worker. This can have incredible effects on you reaching your goals.
To be clear, working on strengthening your weaknesses doesn’t mean you’re pursuing perfection, nor does it involve undue self-criticism. Instead view it as a challenging self-improvement project that will help one overcome bad habits or tendencies that could be holding you back from reaching your full potential.
Here are some constructive ways to strengthen your weaknesses:
1. Identify your strengths.
Before you consider your weaknesses, take a little time to review your strengths. Not only is it a positive tone to start on, but by identifying your strong points, you may be able to use them to your advantage to help strengthen your weaknesses.
2. Identify where you could use some improvement.
OK, now it’s time to get real. What are some of your weaknesses, or things that you’d like to improve about yourself? And how might they be adversely affecting your results? This is the identifying the problem step, in which you openly embrace the weaknesses so you can work to improve them.
3. Consider the benefits of changing.
Visualizing success can be a powerful and motivating exercise, so take a little time to do it now. How could your life benefit from strengthening some of your weak areas?
4. Set specific goals.
Once you’ve identified where you’d like to improve, set specific goals for what you’d like to achieve. For instance, say you are a self-identified procrastinator who is frequently waiting till the final hour to arrive for your workout.
Plan the night before, lay out your clothes, have your equipment ready, set your alarm to wake you up earlier, arrive early to the gym and start warming up. Having a concrete goal in place gives you something specific to work toward, creating a sense of accountability. It also gives you an end goal, so you can plan out actionable steps for how to get from here to there.
5. Embrace the challenge.
To really be able to strengthen your weaknesses, it’s important to have the right mindset.
Instead of looking at it as a chore, look at it as a challenge that you’re ready to take on. Embrace the challenge and enjoy the process. Working on improving yourself will make you a more well-rounded person and build your confidence. Remember: There is so much to gain, literally.
6. Be consistent.
You wouldn’t just do one session of weightlifting and consider yourself a bodybuilder. It takes time and consistent effort to yield results. Be consistent in your efforts and keep it up. You may not see results overnight, or even in a couple of weeks. But as time goes on, the muscle memory will build, and you will gain strength in an area you were once weak. Can I Get It? No Mess
