Every "strength" has an opposite side, a "weakness". Generally speaking, the more "weak" you are in an area, the more that area needs improvement. Recognizing your own strengths and weaknesses can make you more valuable to employers, because you can recognize your faults.
Here are some examples of strengths and weaknesses, but each person must think about his / her own personality to decide what are YOUR strengths and weaknesses.
- I am tenacious (the Word means being stubborn); I stick with a problem until I solve it. My mother used to call me "stubborn" because of it, so it is both a strength and a weakness.
- I like to work my hands; I can spend all day tearing apart a car and putting it back together to fix problems. Sometimes, this strength makes me seem distant around people, so I have to remember to interact with others who are working on tasks nearby me.
- I love working with people and talking / listening to them. But I can get so involved with the person that I lose track of the schedule. When I realized this a few years ago, I started referring to the schedule book or to-do list every 15-20 minutes so I don't miss things I need to do.
- I like order and organization. I thrive on matching tasks and building a time-sensitive work schedule. But a chaotic work station feels uncomfortable to me to work in. I have to guard against spending too much time organizing the work, versus simply doing the work. I worked out for myself that if I spend 5 minutes tidying up, I must at least do actual work the rest of the day, with 5 minutes to tidy my work station at the end of the day so I'm better set to start my work the next morning.
- I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist and set high standards for my work. This is a great asset--but can lead to feeling disappointed with myself if I think I fell short of "perfect". I've learned to be more flexible with myself and others, looking to do a "good job" without being so much a perfectionist.
We ALL have flaws and faults. Half the battle is recognizing them; the other half is designing some solution that off-sets the 'flaw'.
