How to Identify Your Greatest Weakness

Have you ever struggled to articulate your greatest weakness? Many of us only realise how difficult it is when we prepare for a job interview.

To help, here’s a hack that can help you: imagine the downside to your greatest strength when it goes too far.

You see, every human trait is like a double-edged sword: serving us well when managed skilfully, but causing us harm when out of control.

Think of using a double-edged sword in combat. One side of the sword can help you effectively strike your opponent, while the other side can hurt you if swung carelessly.

Insight:

Our strongest traits are our sharpest swords. The danger is, these swords cut both ways: for us and against us.

How do we wield these swords more safely? The first step is to understand how each of our strengths comes with a weakness.

3 examples of finding our weakness from our strength:

1. Perseverance spurs us on to work through obstacles, but can turn into stubbornness, causing us to pursue lost causes or refuse to pivot when necessary.

2. Being optimistic gives us positive energy to overcome challenges, but can make us overestimate how much we can take on at times.

3. Taking ownership of failures helps us learn and grow, but it can also lead to anxiety when we blame ourselves excessively.

On the flip side, knowing our greatest weakness can reveal our greatest strength.

3 examples of finding our strength from our weakness:

1. Highly sensitive people may be more picky and feel more deeply affected by negativity, but they are better at appreciating fine details and feel positive emotions more deeply, too.

2. People who tend to overthink may feel overcome with anxiety when making a difficult decision, but this also gives them an analytical mind capable of complex problem-solving.

3. Impatience may cause frustration and hasty decisions, but it can also drive efficiency and a sense of urgency to get things done quickly.

Double-Edged Swords in Other People:

This metaphor also applies to the traits we like and dislike in other people. For example, you may like how playful your partner is, but also dislike how immature they can be at times. Or you may like how social they are, but dislike how late they stay out with their friends.

Ironically, your most and least favourite traits about your partner come from the same source.

Appreciating the good that comes with the bad, and the bad that comes with the good helps us foster greater understanding, acceptance, and compassion for other people as well as for ourselves.

Yin-Yang:

The Taijitu (known as the Yin-Yang symbol) illustrates how opposing forces - such as strengths and weaknesses - are two sides of the same coin.

The dot of opposite colour within each section signifies that within good, there is a seed of bad, and within bad, there is a seed of good. This shows that nothing is purely one or the other and that each quality contains the potential for its opposite.

Why should you care?

Recognising the double-edged nature of our own traits helps us harness our strengths more effectively and manage our weaknesses more wisely - so we can wield our sharpest swords with greater care and precision.

Tool:

1. Reflect on your strengths: which traits have helped you achieve your goals and earn praise?

2. Ask for feedback: ask your friends and family, "What are my strengths?" to gain an outside perspective.

3. Identify the corresponding weaknesses: what are the potential downsides to having too much of these traits? 

4. Become a better swordfighter: with a deeper understanding of the potential for good and bad in your traits, you can lean into the strengths they give you while treading more carefully when they expose you to weakness.

Ask Yourself:

What trait am I most proud of? How can this hurt me when it becomes too much?

What do I struggle with most? How can I reframe it to find my greatest strength?

Written by Dr Manu Sidhu 🩺

Feel free to email me with any thoughts, questions, or more detailed feedback.

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