That Chink in Your Armor

That Chink in Your Armor

Oh, this is a no-brainer.  We all know all our strengths like the palm of our hands.  We even beat our chest and blow the horns for that.  And that's perfectly fine because by nature, we humans are damn proud of our strengths, our pluses, our arsenal which we tap and flaunt as often as we want to not just because of our pride but simply put, it's fair and reasonable for us to leverage on our best cards which we play up especially when there is a need to trump in the interplays of life.

Oh, when do we stumble and sometimes fall flat on our faces ?  It's not because of our strengths, right ? Instead, it is because of those 'CHINKS in our ARMOR' which is exactly analogous to a chain.  Despite the seeming sturdiness of a chain, it does have it's weak links and amongst those weak links, there's definitely that 'weakest link' somewhere along that end-to-end stretch of the chain.  But it is indeed perplexing why, despite the plethora of strengths we have in life, we still have those slip-ups, those moments when we do fall flat on our face.  And let's not baselessly claim that we do not have enough strengths, which explains those stumbling acts we cause.  Lest it be overlooked, studies show that 99% of our failures are triggered by those 'WEAKEST LINKS' in our life.

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Our real problem, though, is the harsh truth that there is so much validity in focusing on our strengths.  They are basically the value we bring to both our personal and business relationships.  Focus on then, instead.  However, ignoring our weaknesses [especially when followed blindly and without context] can be downright dangerous to our own potential success.  So, why don't we drill down on our weaknesses which, social scientists advise, can be grouped into three main categories namely, THOSE THAT TRULY MATTER [example - I'm not good in marathons and since I don't have plans to be in a marathon, I'll ignore that one. Then, there's THOSE THAT MATTER AND NEED TO BE MITIGATED [like - I have a weakness for junk food and have to be aware, constantly monitoring myself].

Lastly, there are THOSE THAT MATTER AND NEED TO BE TURNED INTO A STRENGTH.  A real-life example will be a busy-body a.k.a. gossiper.  If I recognize that as my weakness, I'll work on until, not only did I overcome it, but am well-known for very rarely saying anything negative about anyone.  And let's agree that if we don't overcome that weakness, our level of influence and success in many areas of life would be much less than it is now.  

Oh, most of us would love to be told that they no longer have to focus on something they dislike and are not good anyway.  But here's the thing:  unless we can be guaranteed that our weaknesses will never haunt us in the future, we might want to FOCUS on them.  Certainly, we want to cast off those CHINKS in our ARMOR❗❗❗