Need to get busy (with blog).... Strengths!

Wow! It has been two months since my first blog post. As I predicted, it was going to be a challenge to publish my blog weekly, but bi-monthly is not acceptable. Who wants to follow a blog that is updated every other month? Not me!

Now that the winter season is over and spring has arrived, I seem to have more time to do things such as my blog. I was looking forward to posting blogs as the season endured, but I was challenged by the "dumpy" hotel-motel's that we found ourselves staying in the majority of the time. Staying in hotel's that do not offer the modern technology of internet makes me realize just how dependent I (we) are of this service. I guess my once hoped "live" blog will have to be adapted into a "reflection" until I get caught up.

As you all know, I am taking this interesting class on modern uses of social media and how to sell yourself in a hard economy. For this class, we took the strength finder 2.0 assessment, which prints out a 20 page report on your strengths determined by several thorough questions and responses. For those of you that know me, I wonder what your reaction to my determined "strengths" are, I challenge you, if you were the assessment, what top-3 strengths would you have chosen? Here is what the assessment told me.

My top strength determined was "achiever." Achiever is defined by people who are especially talented in this strength have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.

My second strength determined was "competition." Competition is defined by people who are especially talented in this theme measure their progress against the performance of others. They strive to win first place and reveal in contests.

The third strength determined by Strength Finder 2.0 was "relator." This is defined by people who enjoy being in close relationships with others and find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.

After getting my results and reflecting on the strengths that were determined, I found myself in an honest agreement with Strength Finder. At first, I was skeptical, I thought, how in the world is this software program going to determine anything about me, a human being... Well, after I received the assessment my doubts were quickly erased. The "strengths" of achiever, competitive and relater are accurate descriptions of my personality.

I have always thought of myself as being an achiever. In anything I do, I try my hardest to achieve the highest possible level, which leads me into my competitive nature. On the road to reaching the highest level, I am constantly competing with others. How do you know you have progressed, or become the best until you compare? It's hard. You need to have competition. It makes it healthy. Winning/Losing is part of the game, the game of athletics, the game of business and the game of life. If it was not for the desire to win, our lives would be boring- what would we work hard for, how would this work be paid off? Please do not get me wrong, the winning and losing is not the most important part. It is the motivator behind our actions. These actions and things we sacrifice to hopefully get to the top are parts of the story and adventure. This story and adventure is what makes us a better person. The winning is a desire to enhance the long lived, ever lasting adventure.

My final strength of being a relator I also found to be quite accurate. I take pride in the fact that I am constantly thinking of others. A possible synonym for this strength could be empathetic. While achieving, and while competing, I constantly am relating and working with others in a positive, professional way. Life's too short to be in your own bubble, being concerned solely of your needs and desires. Life/athletics/business/anything is more satisfactory when you relate with others and are sure they, too, have got the best out of whatever you have done.

Now that I can refer to my top strengths with distinct, direct words, I look forward to using these strengths in the hunt for a job, my athletic endeavors and life as a whole.