StrengthsFinder 2.0

A little over a year ago, someone at worked mentioned StrengthsFinder 2.0 which is a strengths-based approach to career development. What does that mean you probably ask? Well, it means you take an assessment with a bunch of questions, and based on your answers, it tells you your 5 top "Strengths"(out of the 34 options). I know, I know...it's just another assessment, but what I like about this one is the philosophy behind it. It suggests that you shouldn't focus on your "areas of development" which you'll likely never be GREAT at, or motivated to work on (they are you areas of development after all). Instead, you should focus on what you're good (or even great) at, and find a career where your strengths are needed and can blossom. I was skeptical at first, but after taking the assessment, and reading through my strengths I started to believe (which actually is a trait of a Maximizer). Many people at work also took the assessment, and after reading their strengths I was pretty amazed at how accurately they portrayed my co-workers. I'm not saying that every single strength was exactly right, or that every description of a strength was perfect, I'm just saying, in general they were pretty correct.

When it came time to find a new job this year, I realized my career had kind of picked me up until that point. I went to school for "Business" but I never sat down and thought "I love calculating in Excel and analyzing things all day"...it just kinda happened. This was the first time I was actully going to choose my career so I thought back to my Strengths and asked myself where I thought I could best use my strengths best, knowing that using my strengths would make me happy. Know what? It worked. I've been in my new job for over 3 months now (which means I'm officially past the honeymoon phase) and I couldn't be happier in my new job. I just feel like I'm doing what I was meant to do, and it's a great feeling.

Below are my strengths and some of the things it says about people with these strength. (Click on the image to make it bigger.) Writing in blue are points I feel are dead on about myself. What do you think?