I wish I had something insightful to say about investing money, but, alas, I do not. That’s not an arena in which I have a great deal of skill. Or knowledge. Or talent. So, if I were Marcus Buckingham, I’d say, “Ric, investing isn’t one of your strengths!”
You see, Marcus defines a strength as this perfect storm of skill, knowledge, and talent that results in near perfect, consistent performance. It’s the stuff you do exceptionally well the vast majority of the time. The “skill” part are the steps it takes to complete a task. You can learn those tasks. You practice them. You master them. That’s you mastering a skill.
The “knowledge” part is more stuff that you learn, but it’s not about steps but about details. Knowledge is what makes you convincing when you argue a point. Knowledge is amassed and gives us credibility. You learn and learn and learn, and you impress with your expertise. That’s you mastering knowledge.
The “talent” part is the place where science and technique sort of go out the window, and the stuff you’re born with, the stuff you do because…well…it’s just natural. That’s talent. It needs no other description. You do it. You’re good at it. You enjoy it. That’s you mastering your talent.
Put them all together…again, skill, knowledge, and talent…and you have your strengths. Strengths give you personal power. They give you an adrenaline rush. They give you a thrill. You soar when you do them. You feel energized. Weaknesses, on the other hand, aren’t necessarily the things that you’re bad at. They are the things that suck your energy. They drain you. They give you bags under your eyes and remove all trace of joy from the moment.
So, if you’re going to invest time in anything, in which area should it be? Should you spend your days investing time and energy into those things that steal your life away from you? Or should you spend your time and energy on those things that bring positivity to your life? There is a body of research that demonstrates that you’ll never get the return on investment from time and energy spent on your weaknesses that you will get on the same time and energy spent on your strengths.
As a matter of fact, they’ll tell you that a fraction of that time and energy spent on a strength will return more to you than two or three times that equivalent spent on a weakness. To paraphrase Dan Pink, this isn’t a feeling…this isn’t philosophy…this is science. There is scientific, statistical data that demonstrates that the best way to improve your performance in life is to focus on your strengths. To quote Marcus again: “Work on your weaknesses just enough to make them irrelevant, then move on.”
To me, that’s the best possible investment advice that anyone can ever give you.
Illuminate Possibilities 