Staying In Your Strength Zone
I’ve always dreamed of playing professional baseball. Actually growing up, I dreamed of playing any kind of major professional sport, but I realized that being small and skinny ruled out basketball and baseball. I didn’t learn how to ice skate until I was in high school, so that ruled out hockey. However, I did play baseball from the age of 8 on and was pretty good at it. I recognized as I got into my teens that I would never see the inside of a major league stadium, unless I paid for a ticket. I could have spent hours and hours honing my baseball skills, but yet probably wouldn’t have gotten from a Division I college let alone a major league baseball club. So I focused more on getting good grades, and in high school getting over my fear of public speaking. Why? Because I realized my strengths lay not in becoming a major league baseball player, but a pastor. I realized that I needed to stay within my strengths to be the man God has called me to be. It means prioritizing and doing those things I am good at, so that I can be even more effective. So how do you stay in your strength zone? I would like to give you three ways.
Find out your strengths
While this may seem like a no-brainer, you would be surprised how many people I talk to about this who don’t know their strengths. Fortunately as a Joshua’s Men alumni, you have gone through StrengthFinders 2.0 and found your strengths. I wonder if I were to ask you to name your strengths, could you? I know I had to look back at mine. Go back, look and reflect on your strengths. Has anything changed since you took the inventory? If not, what are your strengths? This leads me to the 2nd way to stay in your strength zone.
Are your priorities in line with your strengths?
Since you are leaders you are good at many things, but are you prioritizing your life in conjunction with your strengths? I have discovered when my priorities get out of whack it is usually because I have strayed away from my strength zone. It is only when I make sure that my priorities line up with my strengths that I feel like I am running on all cylinders. I will admit though that it is very easy for other priorities to sneak in and lure me out of my strength zone. It could be the pressure I put on myself or that I allow others to put on me to try to be “all things to all people”. However, in order for me to be effective I need to stay within my strength zone by making sure my priorities are in line with my strengths.
Evaluation
In Pennsylvania, where I grew up, there are lots of roads that go up and down mountains. One absolute must for those roads are guardrails, because the drop off the side of the road can be very precarious and steep. So if a driver gets distracted or the car starts to pull to that side of the road, there is protection from falling off the side of the mountain. It is the same way with our priorities. We need to have a system in place in our lives, where we have those “protections” for us to not lose our priorities and thus leave our strength zone. It can be through self-evaluation, where those times of feelings stressed and overwhelmed can many times be signals our priorities are askew, and we are outside our strength zones. Our spouses can be a great evaluator when our priorities are messed up and we are functioning outside of our strength zone. They can be the ones that can help us focus our priorities and get back on track.There are going to be times in our lives due to circumstances, when we have to function outside of our strength zones. There will be other times when by our own action or inaction our priorities get eschew, and we get drawn out of our strength zone. Either way, in order to be effective leaders, we need to get our priorities in line and live in our strength zone.
Conversation:
What are those times in your life when your priorities were off and you were not in your strength zone?
How do you feel when you are living your life in your strength zone?