Knowing Your Weaknesses Actually Makes You Stronger
Our strengths are things we use every day to push us further in life. Our weaknesses can be at times looked at as our downfall or things that set us back. However, our weaknesses are actually huge opportunities to connect with others, collaborate, learn, build each other up and more importantly, strengthen our relationship and faith in God.
I remember a time in my life when I wanted to prove myself to everyone, whether I knew them or not. It was important to me for people to know that I could handle everything and that I had life figured out. This time that I remember specifically is when I first started my business. When stepping into the world of entrepreneurship I did everything by myself like the typical solopreneur. Photos, marketing, producing, coaching, accounting, and everything else that comes along with business, I did myself, regardless if I was good at it or not! Instead of collaborating and working with others to step in, I tried to figure everything out because after all, I could handle it all…or so I thought!
Trying to prove my abilities to everyone instead of working smarter and working with others, I exposed my business to risks because of my weaknesses. For example, I am in no way a pro at marketing and I was just figuring it out as I went. Due to this, I was not meeting my marketing goals, barely bringing on clients and ultimately losing money, and producing mediocre work. Overall, I felt drain, overextended, and began questioning the success of my business and my abilities to run a business.
I put my business at risk of failure because I was not honest about the areas in which I was weak and needed extra help. My “I can do bad all by myself” attitude spilled over to different areas of my life as well. I became so drained that I wasn’t able to show up fully the way I knew I could in relationships, my job, and even for my own self-care. After a while, I just got tired of this upward hill battle I was fighting alone.
One day during my alone time with God, he revealed to me that he made us all weak in some areas on purpose so that we could do two things. I learned that God made us this way so that we could rely on him more and connect and be in relationships with others. Once I realized this, I shifted my lone ranger mindset and began to open my life up to the abilities of others and more importantly God. This changed the whole trajectory of my life for the better in four major ways:
Now that I had accepted the areas that I was not so skilled in, I was able to invite God in and admit that I needed him. This strengthened my faith in God and my relationship with him because I gave him room to show up and show out in my life in ways that I could never.
Knowing my weak areas allowed me to understand the kind of people I needed around me to succeed in life. Having people who are strong in the areas in which I am weak helps to build me up, provides support, and builds my network. Also having friends and family that are stronger in some personal areas than I am helped to balance out relationships and challenges me to be better!
Understanding my weaknesses helped to strengthen my perspective of myself and it gave me more power to improve my life on my terms. I now give myself more grace to work on the areas I need help in and invite help to get better. Ultimately, my weaknesses helped me to know and understand myself better and become more self-aware. By becoming more self-aware, my confidence ramped up as well!
Lastly, my stress level decreased tremendously because I was no longer biting off more than I could chew to prove unnecessary points. I began delegating, building teams, strengthening my relationships in life, and ultimately doing life with others instead of alone.
Understanding our weaknesses just as well as our strengths allows us to understand ourselves better. It allows us to understand what we need to successfully navigate through life. When we know our weakness, we put a name to what has the potential to hold us back and can put a plan in place to knock down those barriers!
I challenge you as you continue to go through this week, make a list of your weakness and decide what you are going to do about them. Create an improvement plan to get better, connect and learn from others who are more skilled, and give yourself the grace to improve on your own terms and at your own pace!