How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life pdfdrive com

HOW TO IDENTIFY YOUR STRENGTHS
So how do you identify your signature strengths—or remind yourself of what
they are—so that you can more consciously draw on them in your day-to-day
work? Based on what I’ve seen work well with my clients, here are three
complementary ways I’d suggest you get a handle on your strengths:
Analyze some especially satisfying past successes of yours, whether big or
small.
Focus on the kind of personal triumph where you caught yourself
thinking, “I wish I felt like this every day,” or “This is so enjoyable that it
doesn’t feel like work.” You can also think about peaks you’ve experienced
outside a professional setting. Maybe you were able to resolve a difficult
family situation or you organized a successful community event. For each
example, write down:
• What exactly did you do, say, and think that helped you succeed?
• What personal talents and qualities enabled you to do, say, or think those
things? (These are your strengths.)
Ask a handful of trusted people—co-workers, friends, family—for their
take.
Explain that you’re trying to get a clearer picture of your personal
strengths. Ask them to give you one or two specific examples of times you
seemed particularly enthused or impressive, and ask them what they think
that means your signature strengths are.
Complete a strengths survey.
There are now several strengths surveys
available online.
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They’re not a replacement for examining your personal
peaks and developing your own sense of your strengths, but taking one may

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help you surface patterns in your examples, or provide useful labels for
talents you’re struggling to name.
When you’re defining your strengths, strive to get beyond the headlines
typically seen in a corporate performance appraisal. For example, don’t just say
“I’m good at communication.” Dig a little to uncover what’s really distinctive
about your strength as a communicator. Ask yourself: “What is it that makes me
really good at this?” It might be empathy for your audience. It might be mastery
of language, or an ability to think on your feet. You might be open and honest in
a way that always wins people over.
Also remember that you’re looking for the kind of personal qualities that truly
energize you when you give them free rein. We’ve all learned to do plenty of
things we don’t totally love, in response to the challenges of our jobs and
personal lives. But to put our brains in discovery mode, we want to stimulate the
neurochemistry of interest and reward, not the neurochemistry of duty and
obligation. So, as you think about your personal peaks, try to distinguish
between those moments where you were doing the things you’re 
supposed
to
enjoy, and the moments when you really were feeling fired up.
Ted is an engineer by background and a senior executive in a global electrical
manufacturing company, and he puts it this way. “I’d always assumed that since
I was good at analytical work, analysis was my biggest strength. But contrary to
my beliefs about myself, where I got real energy from was teaching others.
When I looked back, to my surprise, the real highs happened when I was helping
to develop our young high-potentials. I remember running a brainstorming
session with them, to encourage them to be more imaginative in their thinking,
and it was more enjoyable than anything else I was doing.” Following this
revelation, Ted made more time in his days for coaching and mentoring junior
colleagues—with the result that he felt more excited by his work than he had for
the previous two decades.