by Kathy Mann
I burnt out in a spectacular fashion a few years ago. It broke my life dramatically and the experience took me by surprise. It acted as a catalyst to evaluate why I got so sick and what was wrong with my life. Of course, burnout is usually multifaceted and doesn’t have one simple source. I believe that one of the contributing factors was that my work was not aligned to my strengths.
At the time I burnt out, I was Managing Director of a small business which was struggling. In my analysis of my burnout sources, I went back to the psychometric tests I had done when I worked in the corporate world. I looked at the aspects that made me unique and my natural talents that I could bring to an organisation and the people I work with.
I also did a brain profiling exercise which helped me to realise that my top strengths were around strategic thinking and building a vision. These are good qualities for the leader of a business. However, most of my day was spent doing accounting and cold calling – activities that do great harm to a creative introvert.
I built a vision and strategy for the business but it was taking a long time to come to fruition. I got tangled up in the daily grind, trying to save the business money by doing many of the necessary functions myself. I realised that I would have been a better leader if I had outsourced my areas of weakness to a specialist, and allowed myself to focus on the bigger issues.
It’s often tempting to work on our weakest areas in order to be a ‘well-rounded’ or ‘balanced’ person. It’s far better to polish your strengths. Years ago, a mentor told me that it’s much better to have an unbalanced profile because it makes us a specialist. He said that no-one great was ever perfectly balanced. We are all born with unique gifts that make us valuable. Skills and knowledge can be developed over time and are also valuable and worth investing in. But the things that we find easy or that come naturally to us, are often areas where other people struggle.
Fast forward a few years, with lots of recovery and introspection, and here I am in a position where I am using my strengths to the full. My work is aligned to my leadership style, my interests and passions. I’m not bogged down by things that are tough for me, things that require me to dig deep when life is already so taxing. I’m able to shine and to bring creative solutions to the teams I work with. I’m much happier and I’m appreciated by the people around me, just for doing the things I find normal.
The link between happiness and using our strengths is backed by research. Shawn Achor writes, in The Happiness Advantage, “When 577 volunteers were encouraged to pick one of their signature strengths and use it in a new way each day for a week, they became significantly happier and less depressed than control groups.”
If you are feeling exhausted and like you’re swimming upstream constantly in your work environment, I’d recommend identifying your natural strengths. There are many online evaluations, many of which are free. You could also ask your loved ones what you’re best at, giving your third-party input about what makes you valuable. If you’re able to blend these talents into your work or even your leisure time, your life will be much richer.
Kathy Mann is an author and speaker with a special interest in stress management. She is passionate about guiding people towards their best lives possible in harnessing their strengths and innate talents. She offers a stress re-framing service, which shifts beliefs to be more constructive around stress. She does this by educating her clients about the variety of stress responses that exist and how we can benefit from them. Kathy's books Avoiding Burnout and Harnessing Stress are available at major retailers and online at Amazon. She is a wife and mother of two beautiful daughters and lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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