The Mentor | #50 | Strength
Each month, I share 3 things I've read on skills, careers, and personal development.
The only way this works is if you believe that you're these people so much that you dream like them. -Tony Mendez (Argo)
People ask me why I started writing The Mentor. My reason is not very exciting:
-I saw that Substack raised a lot of money.
-I was curious to know what that was all about.
-The best way to understand something is to use it.
-And, here we are.
I’ve always been interested in successful people, in any walk of life. What motivates them, how did they become great at it, why do they keep going, etc. So, to some extent, writing about this topic was natural to me; I just had to share what I’ve learned from others (and by reading about others) and hopefully it would benefit someone and become a ‘strength’ for them.
Peter Drucker wrote many years ago:
History’s great achievers—a Napoleon, a da Vinci, a Mozart—have always managed themselves. That, in large measure, is what makes them great achievers. Most people think they know what they are good at. They are usually wrong.
More often, people know what they are not good at—and even then more people are wrong than right. And yet, a person can perform only from strength…. One should waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence. It takes far more energy and work to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence
This reminds me of the phrase, ‘hire for strength, not lack of weakness’. Everyone possesses both, so why not just focus on strengths?
Success is ultimately about achieving your potential in any endeavor. The path of least resistance is probably where you are already the strongest.
1
Once you find your strength, you have to learn how to live with it. In this case, she's figuring out how to really live with getting what she's always wanted.
2
You can achieve so much when you truly focus. In an age of digital distraction, the ability to focus can be a differentiating strength for anyone.
3
A strength is one thing. An exceptional ability is a whole different level.
I couldn't agree more, "the best way to understand something is to use it." It's funny how people always assume there is a larger motive behind something. Understanding how things work is fundamental. I've done similar things. Thanks for sharing, Rob.