Go... Put Your Strengths to Work... Miraculously!

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Go Put Your Strengths to Work!
Who knows your strengths better than anyone else--
you do!
Who can see that they are put to work better than anyone else-- you can!

Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham asserts that you know better than anyone else, can find them better than anyone else, and persuade others to use them better than anyone else. Here's your do-it-yourself blueprint for finding, honing and maximizing "your strengths" in life.

Buckingham says to be aware of how you feel in what you do. Do you feel strengthened or weakened when you do things? He uses more of a right-brained approach as compared to his previously work, Now, Discover Your Strengths, which is more left-brained in process. He combines the two to create a path of wholeness to gift employment. Follow his 6 steps and over 6 weeks you will be putting to work the gifts of strength, fulfillment and success.

Step 1. Bust the Myths.... these may be stopping you.
Myth: As you grow, your personality changes.
Truth: As you grow, you become more of who you already are.
The core of who you really are never changes… only grows, if you help it along.

Myth: You will grow in your areas of greatest weakness.
Truth: You will grow most in your areas of greatest strength.
Peers provide the earliest indicators of your strengths. Build on these. You will grow more here, than improve weaknesses with the same effort.

Myth: A good team member does whatever it takes to help a team.
Truth: A good team member deliberately volunteers his strength to the team most of the time. People will step forward and volunteer their strengths when given the chance.

Step 2. Get clear. "Do you know what your strengths are?"
In Now Discover Your Strengths", the strengthsfinder helped you find natural talents--empathy, assertiveness, competitiveness-- then with skills developed, with knowledge,
they can become strengths... an objective approach.
Whereas in Go Put Your Strengths to Work, Buckingham recommends monitoring feelings toward activities as you do them... observing the four signs of strengths (SIGN).

S is Success.
What makes you feel successful when you do it?
I is Instinct. What are you almost intuitively drawn to want to do. You look forward to doing it.
G is for Growth. When you are doing it, you may lose track of time and do it almost effortlessly. You are challenged, focused, totally immersed, lost in the activity for a long time.
N is for Needs. Whereas Instinct is how you feel before you do the activity; Growth is how you feel in the activity; Needs is how you feel right after the activity. This activity fulfills an innate need of yours.

Your strengths then are the activities that make you feel strong.

So the best judge of strength is You!
Others all along life tell you what you should be, do, are... but in You is who you are and you know that the best. He then shows you how to capture, clarify, and confirm your strengths. Buckingham suggests using "strength statement cards" he has in his book to record strengths, thoughts/feelings in activities throughout the day answering "I feel strong when...."

Then after you captured it,
clarified it
and confirmed it,
take the 12 point Strengths Test of SIGN.... Success, Instinct, Growth, Needs.

Step 3. Free Your Strength. "How can you make the most of what strengthens you?"

Make a Strong Week Plan.
(1) Include what % of last week did you spend doing things that you really like to do?
(2) What % of this week will you spend doing things that you really like to do?
(3) What actions will you take this week to FREE up your strengths?

FREE...
Focus, Release, Educate, Expand.

Focus: Identify how and where this specific strength helps you in your current role.
Release: Find the missed opportunities in your current role.
Educate: Learn new skills and techniques to build this strength.
Expand: Build your job around this strength.

Step 4. Stop your Weaknesses. "How can you cut out what weakens you?"
Take a week and capture, clarify, and confirm.
Then go through the SIGN Process to stop weaknesses.
S is what lacks success…"I never do this very well" feeling.
I is lack of instinct..."no matter how hard I try, I can't get into this" feeling.
G is lacking growth... "I just can't wait until it’s done" feeling.
N is lack of needs... "why do I put myself through this" no fulfillment feeling. Take the Weakness Test.

Do the Strong Week Plan to STOP weakness.
STOP
S is to stop doing the activity.
T is to team up with others who are strengthened by this (your weak) activity.
O is offer up a strength, you can use, and steer your job toward it.
P is perceive your weakness from a different perspective. Can you connect this activity to something that interests you?

Step 5. Speak up. "How to create strong teams?"
Buckingham shows you how to show off your strengths to your supervisor to notice, get the team to notice so you are able to use them.

Step 6. Build Strong Habits. "How can you make this last forever?"
The Five Strong Habits Plan.
Every day: Look over your 3 Strength statements and three weakness statements.
Every week: Complete a Strong Week Plan.
Every Quarter: Close the books on this strength mission... have that talk about your discoveries with your manager, partner, or associate.
Every 6 Months: Pick a week to capture, clarify and confirm your strengths.
Every Year: Take the strengths Engagement Track Survey. Don't stop this process and you'll see your strengths expand forever.

In 6 weeks you can get the process down, maybe 7.
Read the book through one week and do the 6 steps over the next six weeks. Within the book, Buckingham provides a code to download all the forms, worksheets, tests that assist you in the process.

As an educator, this is a great do-it-yourself life growth experience. Do it and it will work wonders for all of us... who really want to know our true strengths.
www.SimplyStrengths.com

Let’s take another look at the "forever" part.
In Spirit, that is eternal... now, and forever. The Apostle Paul and Jesus announced these gifts to be part of those who live in Spirit.The Apostle Paul announced...
"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.
There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom,
to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit,
to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,
to another miraculous powers,
to another prophecy,
to another distinguishing between spirits,
to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,
and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
All these are the work of one and the same Spirit,
and he gives them to each one, just as he determines."
(1 Corinthians 12: 4-11, NLT)

The key thought is that Spirit gives gifts… as He determines.
When God calls you to a Mission purpose, in the natural you may not seem to have the gifts, talents or abilities necessary for the calling. As the Spirit calls you, The Spirit will Give to you the abilities you need…“as He determines.”

These abilities are from Spirit and are provided, supernaturally, as a gift. Through Spirit in us, some will have great wisdom beyond their years or abilities of their education to make preternatural decisions. Others will know things that only the pure insight of Spirit Intelligence could remotely reveal this information. A knowing without knowing. Still others will have the ability to tell you what will happen in the future to advise you on things only God would know. Then some will have faith and belief so pure that they will touch people and they will be healed. Many will be given gifts of prayer, and all things they pray for will come into existence, miraculously.
This is a powerhouse package that will come into the places of business that believe, nurture and develop these Spirit Gifts to their best potential
which in Spirit is Unlimited Power beyond our abilities to fathom it.

Jesus said these signs will follow them:
They will have authority over all forces of evil in the world.
They will have advanced Supernatural communication abilities.
They will not be affected by attempts by evil people to destroy them or hurt them.
They will be spared harm from things that could permanently impair them.
They will speak to people and emotions will be healed.
They will have powers to speak to people as gifts of great power will be given to those spoken to.
They will touch people and they will be physically healed
and even healed of medically incurable diseases.
(Mark 16: 17, 18)

Spirit through us, those who live connected in a pure stream in Spirit, will see the Spirit work marvelously, miraculously, magnificently through them.

The greatest powers imaginable in the universe will accompany those in The Spirit of God that was in Jesus and now in Us… through this transfer of Power from Jesus to Us, His creation who live In His Spirit.

Walk in faith of this Spirit power
to bring Gifts of His Greatness to you.
Live in His Spirit of an eternal, "forever" majestic dimension...
That is available, potentially operative, NOW !