StrengthsFinder

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What are your real strengths?

Do you know what your strengths are?

We're not talking about your industry knowledge or your years of experience in your field. We're talking about your real strengths – the strengths that set you apart from your colleagues and make you unique. When was the last time you sat down to analyze these strengths? Or, for that matter, have you ever taken time to analyze what you're truly best at doing?

Most people haven't. We've all probably analyzed and worked on our weaknesses, but many people don't give their strengths much thought.

This, however, is a mistake. Working with our strengths is one of the surest paths to success and happiness in what we do. And there's a good chance that we have strengths we've never even considered.

Stop and think about what your days might be like if you could use your five biggest strengths consistently. You could perform exceptionally well most of the time. You'd feel excited and fulfilled in what you were doing. And you'd feel as if you and your work existed in near-perfect harmony.

Sounds wonderful, right? Well, this is how some of the world's most successful people feel much of the time. They've discovered their strengths, and they've worked to build their lives – and their work – around those strengths.

Fortunately, all of us can do this, and a good way of getting started is to take the StrengthsFinder self-test. That way you can find your strengths and start to focus on them.

Discover Your Strengths

The StrengthsFinder test was created by Marcus Buckingham, author of "First, Break All the Rules," and Donald Clifton of Gallup International Research and Education. They based the test on a 25-year Gallup study of more than two million people from all areas of life – from housekeepers to CEOs. Gallup asked detailed, open-ended questions to find out what made all of these participants successful.

Thanks to their input, and some in-depth analysis and research, Gallup identified 34 of the most common human strengths. The StrengthsFinder test helps you identify which five of these strengths you have.

Why is this so important? Well, as we said earlier,...