The BOLD (Special Sauce)
Knowing your secret sauce means you invest your effort in the places most likely to bear fruit and where you are most likely to experience the state of flow. Or, in other words, life is too short to do too much of what you aren’t good at and what you don’t enjoy.
The Whisper (From a Place of Strength)
Jerry’s report card sported a range of letter grades. He had earned an A in English and B’s in Science and Social Studies. Then there was the D in Math.
“You should have worked harder.” His father scowled.
“You need to work on that Math grade,” His mother sighed.
“Here is the name and phone number of a Math tutor,” his uncle offered.
Jerry’s Grandmother smiled, “You have such a beautiful way with words, Jerry. I’m not surprised to see that you enjoyed English enough to excel.”
It is our impulse to mediate weakness. We chafe at the pain of what we perceive to be failure. Long embedded narratives about being well-rounded people and about eliminating weakness drive us to fix that which is wrong.
It is our strength which provides our greatest opportunity for growth and our most fulfilling work.
Early Strengths Research
In the 1950s, Donald Clifton worked with the Nebraska School Study Council on a state-wide research project. The object of the study was to identify methods for increasing student reading speeds. The results were startling to Clifton and his colleagues. The students who started with the fastest reading speeds improved by 1833%, moving from 150 to 2900 words per minute. Those who had the slowest speed to begin increased their speed by only 66% on average, moving from 90 to 150 words per minute. (see note below) *
This study spurred Donald Clifton’s interest in the difference between playing to strengths and trying to improve weaknesses. He wrote a white paper with James Harter that discussed the many subsequent studies Gallup and others have undertaken to determine where our efforts are best invested.
Overwhelmingly, they have concluded that we get farther faster strengthening our strengths than we do when we try to strengthen our weaknesses.
Our Experience of Strength
Perhaps we don’t need studies to teach us this principle. Think about the times you’ve been in flow—the state where you lose time and where all the elements seem to smoothly and gracefully run side by side toward your desired outcome. Those states are a good indicator of a harnessed strength.
The presence of a strength doesn’t guarantee that the work will be easy. The promise is, instead, that the work will prosper.
One of my mentors keeps two gratitude journals. One records all the external things for which she is grateful. It chronicles wonderful experiences, kindnesses from other people, windfalls and blessings.
The other is her personal gratitude journal, an exercise in confidence. She lists all the compliments she has received, every victory that arose from the application of a strength, everything she likes about herself.
Because she has the courage to enumerate and celebrate her strengths, she recognizes opportunities to apply her skills, abilities and special sauce attributes when they arise, and her career has prospered.
What About You?
What is your superpower, your special sauce, your me-and-only-me-in-exactly-this-way strength? You are a special concoction of natural talent, careful learning, personal experiences, and insights. Knowing your strengths allows you to realize the exponential growth that comes from developing those strengths and strategically using them.
*A Note About the Speed-Reading Study:
A few caveats are important to consider here. This study is widely quoted but a cursory search shows many references to the study but no primary results. The numbers differ by the account. Also, speed does not always correlate with comprehension. It seems to be repeated because it is apparent evidence of something many authors would like us to consider. Let us, then, consider these findings almost anecdotal, as the study may or may not have the required rigor.
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