Exploring a Strength-Based Approach for Success

Holly Metzger-Brown, the learn and play director at the York JCC, explains the benefits of utilizing a strength-based approach for success in life and leadership.

Facing a new year with a fresh start can be inspiring and motivating if you focus your energy on your strengths. When you dedicate your time and attention to your strengths, everything else will fall into place and your life’s journey will be clearer. Your strengths and passions will develop in tandem to guide your pathway and make it easier to make decisions in your life and your organization.

You must fully understand your strengths to lay the foundation for your strength-based lifestyle approach. Discovering your strengths comes with taking the time to self-reflect, journal, and reassess. When you self-reflect and keep a record in a journal of the areas of your life and career you have developed a strong repertoire of skills for, you will see a pattern of your strengths.

You will learn from experience what things come easier than others and what things you gravitate toward. By taking the time to assess your skills and answer guided questions, you will begin to funnel the information and better understand your strengths. Assessment is a great method to measure your level of skills in various areas of your life and career.

Asking your friends and colleagues to evaluate and explain your strengths is also an excellent way to embark on self-discovery. When you take the time to identify and understand your strengths, you can build on your strengths rather than focus on your weaknesses.

Once you understand your strengths, you will have a clearer vision of your life and career. Developing and focusing on your strengths will be not only rewarding and motivating but also productive. Focusing your attention on your strengths will help you put all of your energy into developing and mastering your craft, which will lead you to a fuller and more successful life and career.