This article is about a very important question that you will ask yourself, and that which will be asked of you time and again, throughout life. The question is, ‘What are you good at? What are your strengths?’
Being self aware and knowing your strengths is very important, not only for personal life, but for academic and professional life as well. Here are a few reasons why knowing your strengths is an absolute must:
Why is it important to know one’s strengths?
- Career choice: As we talked about in our article on Choosing the best career for yourself: the Ikigai Framework, knowing what your strengths and identifying the things you are good at will help you in selecting the most suitable career for yourself. As per the Flow model, it will ensure that the career you choose keeps you engaged, interested and excited throughout.
- Exam preparation: Every exam will have a number of subjects you would have to prepare for. You will be good at some of these subjects, average in others, and have to work harder on the rest. Knowing your strengths in various subjects and the amount of effort you need to put into them is instrumental for creating your preparation and revision strategy and excelling in your entrance exams!
- Personal confidence: Knowing your strengths gives you a sense of confidence which is important for both your personal and professional interactions. It will also give you a sense of comfort on days when you are feeling low and are worried about your career.
- Interviews: ‘What are your strengths?’ is one of the most basic questions that interviewers ask in both college entrance and job interviews. It is the interviewers’ way of gauging your self-awareness and confidence. Knowing your strengths will make you well-prepared for this question!
- Career: Last, but not the least, self-awareness about strengths is what is going to take you places once you start working and leveraging your strong points to excel in work.
We now know why knowing your strengths is important. We also know that this question is unlikely to stop haunting you at least till you retire :P. So now let’s start finding out how we can gauge our strengths and strong points. For this, Eazyprep has created the SCRUB framework for you.
What’s the SCRUB framework? Read on!
SCRUB Framework for identifying your strengths
The SCRUB framework for identifying your strengths is basically used to find your strong areas by using the five following questions:
1. Satisfaction: What is the one thing you do whose results give you satisfaction?
Just remember that work which you did whose results gave you a huge sense of accomplishment and self-satisfaction. Something that made you pat your own back and say, ‘job well done’! Yes, that work may be your strength!
2. Compliments: What activity do you often get compliments for?
Remember the thing you do which always gets you compliments from friends, teachers or peers? Like, “Wow your writing is so nice!” “Hey, you run so quickly!” “Whoa, your maths concepts are so clear!” Well, these areas where you get great feedback and compliments are your strengths.
3. Results: Which activities get you terrific results?
Marks and prizes are not everything in life. But they do give you a great idea about what you are good at. So come on, think of the one subject you always get your highest marks in. Think of that one school/college activity where you got a prize or did really well. These things are your strengths.
4. Unique: Which trait of yours makes you unique?
Is there something that you are known for in your friend circle, class or among your peers? What is the one thing your family members or acquaintances say about you when they think of you? Fill in the blanks here, ‘<Your name>, is really good at _____.’ Well, people, the answer to this Fill in the Blanks is the most important one in your life, because this answer is one of your strengths too!
5. Better than others: What do you do better than most people you know?
It is good to be modest, but there are almost always some things that you are better at doing than most people around you. It could be remembering facts. It could be writing quickly. It could be having an amazing sense of taste. What is that one thing at which you are better than the rest? The one which your friend wishes they could do as well as you? Well, whatever it is (you know better), that is your strength.
Done? I’m sure you must have found at least one strength or strong area of yours by now. If you have not, don’t worry. Repeat the exercise by asking and discussing these questions with those who know you well. You’ll definitely discover a strength by doing this. And if you have found your strengths, congratulations! Depending on what your need was, you could use this knowledge to identify a good career for yourself, enhance your exam preparation strategy, or prepare for your interview.
Or best still, prepare for a confident, self-aware life!
That’s all for this write-up folks. Cheerios!
