Finding Strengths

[onomotopeia]

While I've made it through college and a master's degree in public health at a competitive university and have achieved success along the way, I am constantly ridden by a lack of clarity about my strongest skills and by a sense of ineptness.

The thing is that I am constantly trying to work on weaker areas. So, while I have trouble with unstructured topics, I chose to study anthropology. I could write the papers and do the theoretical thinking. But I couldn't do the interviews well and struggled with organizing the material.

I am right now trying to figure out my strengths and how to apply them. Could:
1. Anyone recommend helpful methods or books out there
2. Provide insight on some further descriptions of my skill inconsistencies that I'm trying to sort out

Thanks

[supertom]

now discover your strengths, it has a code which gives access to an online test. Actually i think you can buy the code without the book.

Amazon.com: Now, Discover Your Strengths (9780743201148): Marcus Buckingham, Donald O. Clifton: Books: Reviews, Prices & more

After you have done your test you get a pdf like this (this is actually my one)
http://rapidshare.com/files/42879225...gths-guide.pdf

[kungfoucault]

Hi Ono- You seem to have a couple of questions here. I have a degree in Anthropology so maybe I can help with that one. You mentioned interviews so I gather you're studying Cultural Anthropology? I concentrated in Archaeology but I was required to take cultural and ethnography courses as well. A good book to help get your ethnographic materials organized is called 'Tales of the Field' by van Maanen, I believe.

About finding your strengths, hmmm.....I think the better question lies in uncovering your desires. What do you want to do? Once you know that, it's much easier to find out and concentrate on what it is you need to work on.

[WarrenG]

:: Authentic Happiness :: Using the new Positive Psychology has a free strengths test. Requires registration though. And take 45 minutes!

[onomotopeia]

Hi all, thanks for the advice. I'll check out the tests.

@ Kungfoucault: Yes, I did study cultural anthro. The thing is that I'm not quick enough to actually trust the validity of my interview design or creation. The whole process is frustrating. The catch is that before I can transition careers, I am in the field of public health that relies upon this kind of research. Unless I find some more concrete science lab in academia, I am bound to do surveys as part of research.

About my strenghts, the situation is complicated by my having learning differences and low self esteem. I feel compelled to study certain things to prove that I am capable. The way I see it is there's a trade off between doing more social sciences/less concrete science based work at a lower level v. doing more hardcore science based work at a higher level.

For example, if I went into policy, my papers in social science research would always be of lesser quality, take more effort and would rely upon constant oversight by others.

If I went into harder science, like psychobiology, I'd be stuck doing more pure research and not research of interventions as I'd want to.

So, there are some fundamental conflicts such as that that I have to somehow resolve.

Any thoughts on this?

[Brutha]

Building skills is a matter of practice. There's a good chance that you can learn to do interviews.
Believe in yourself and see past your limiting beliefs.

[cacheborn]

Improving at interview means improving your communication skills, among other things. There's a lot of material for that out there, but most important thing is to apply what you learn, see how it works for you and continue making adjustments. As Brutha said, it's a matter of practice.

[Medea33]

Originally Posted by onomotopeia

About my strenghts, the situation is complicated by my having learning differences and low self esteem. I feel compelled to study certain things to prove that I am capable. The way I see it is there's a trade off between doing more social sciences/less concrete science based work at a lower level v. doing more hardcore science based work at a higher level.

I have a moderate to severe learning disability, as do my children, who are both ADD as well. There have been some distinct challenges, but we are constantly aware of the many benefits as well. What doesn't work, though, is to approach learning differerences as things to be overcome or mastered.

It sounds like you're well aware of the areas in which you perceive yourself to be weak, but I wonder if you can take each one and find the concomittant strength. For instance, while I cannot figure out how words or names sound by looking at them, I am quite good at pattern recognition, and those things are connected for me.

You've several suggestions for books or websites and those are good places to start. Steve's blog has a number of things that might help with the low self-esteem, which I suspect is not a very useful thing to have.

[kungfoucault]

I agree with Brutha as well. The skills you need can always be improved upon, so go in the direction you want to with the faith and intention that you will master the required skills.

[AlexJay]

Originally Posted by onomotopeia

While I've made it through college and a master's degree in public health at a competitive university and have achieved success along the way, I am constantly ridden by a lack of clarity about my strongest skills and by a sense of ineptness.

The thing is that I am constantly trying to work on weaker areas. So, while I have trouble with unstructured topics, I chose to study anthropology. I could write the papers and do the theoretical thinking. But I couldn't do the interviews well and struggled with organizing the material.

I am right now trying to figure out my strengths and how to apply them. Could:
1. Anyone recommend helpful methods or books out there
2. Provide insight on some further descriptions of my skill inconsistencies that I'm trying to sort out

Thanks

Try this...

Strengths:
What are my strengths?
What have I got going for myself?
What do I do well?
What do I control in this situation?
What do I have that will be valuable?
(knowledge, skills, experience, equipment, etc.)
Who are my friends and allies?
What are my lines of communication?
Consider this from your own point of view and from the point of view of the people you deal with. Be honest and realistic - but not modest!
Weaknesses:
What are my weaknesses?
What could be improved?
What do I tend to do badly?
What am I vulnerable to?
What things are missing?
Again this should be considered from your own point of view and as others might see the situation - do other people perceive weaknesses that you don't see?

These questions should provide some insight for you...

Hope this helps some.

Alex Jay,
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[pou]

This has been a great challenge for me as well - and still is to some degree.

I've been really interested in the concept of natural ability. I believe that we all have some things that we are naturally good at. Some characterictics to these abilities are:

• it's easy for you to do (might be so easy and natural that you're not even conscious of the fact)
• you enjoy doing it (you would do it even if you weren't paid)
• you can lose track of time doing it
• other people see value in it

Here are some questions based on those:

• What things are there that other people say to be difficult but you find easy to do?
• What would you spend your time on if you had million dollars and didn't have to work anymore?
• What things are in your past that you've been doing and realized that hours have went by without you noticing?
• What abilities you have that other people compliment on?

I think this all boils down to what kungfoucault said: you should focus on what you want to do. You should spend your time on activities that excite you enough to keep you learning them.

So if you're good on the theoretical side, you should focus on it. If the interviews are something that you want to do, you will learn them in time. If you're always frustrated with learning something, you should leave it to other people and concentrate on what you enjoy.

These can things take time. The best bet is to try all sorts of things and interact with other people.

If you have doubts about your skills and you're always questioning them, just change the questions. Your mind is always looking for answers. If you ask, why am I'm not good at this, your mind will look answers for that. So just keep asking what are your strengths.

So stop dwelling on your weaknesses and focus on what you enjoy.

[Cochonette]

I'm majoring in Anthro as well and have similar frustration. If you really want to do fieldwork, then just work at it and you'll figure it out. However, if you have a lot to work on, just know that it may take a while, especially if you are focused on a lot of other things. On the other hand, you may decide it's just not your thing and you want to focus more on theory, or move to a related field. I have found I have so much to work on before I can be truly good at anything. I don't feel comfortably good at anything big in my life yet, and it' taking far more time to get where I want to be than I'd hoped. But that's life! Gotta accept where you are before you can get where you want to go.