Building on Strengths vs Worrying About Weaknesses | Episode 2

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Episode 2: Building on Strengths vs Worrying About Weaknesses

In the movie Dangal, Indian wrestler Geeta's performance drops once she changes her style at the international level. She decides to work on being more defensive instead of being offensive. Watching her from a distance, her father (Aamir Khan) comments that you can't ask Sehwag to bat like Rahul Dravid! I couldn't agree more!

One of the classic challenges that I have seen everyone - from young students to National level Sales heads to start-up CEOs - struggle with, is finding the balance between working on improving on one's weaknesses vs spending time building on one's strengths. Although it seems like a simple binary decision, it is not as easy to execute as it appears.

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A large majority of CAT students have a perennial problem allocating time between different topics and sections both while studying for the test as well as while attempting the CAT.

What is the right answer?

I don't think there can be a right answer for questions like these but this is my take on the issue -

Focus on your strengths and try to be the best at what you are already good at. Stop worrying about what you are unlikely to be world class in.

Does it mean you ignore your weaknesses? Absolutely not. You work on it to ensure you don't get trampled upon by the competition. You ensure you keep improving it. However, working on weaknesses should not come at the cost of lack of development of your strength area.

You will never really be the best at what you are not naturally good at. And because you stop focussing on what makes you awesome, you lose your edge and end up being really ineffective overall.

There are so many examples of this in real life. Companies start with a USP and delight customers. Then they try to do more and ape their competitors who are better at other things. This leads to them losing focus on what made them special in the first place. And they end up giving a really mediocre experience to their customers.

A good bowler makes his mark in the world with his ability to swing the ball well. Someone says he isn't fast enough. This distracts the bowler and he spends all his time and energy working on his bowling speed. He stops practising the core skill he possesses. He loses the potency and never manages to achieve his true potential.

My CAT 2007 attempt suffered because of one simple reason. I spent an inordinate amount of time working on my weaknesses. It cost me a high percentile that year. I should have first focussed on ensuring my RC and Verbal Ability section was top-notch at all times to ensure I scored above 99.5 percentile. Instead, I spent all my time working on my weaker section and ended up with a respectable 97.5%ile with a 90+ in each section but without acing any one thing and hence missing out.

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At the level of the ego, you need to first acknowledge that you are not going to be good at everything. Our first instinct is always to maximise everything. However, that is not possible. Sure, there are some geniuses and freaks. But for the large majority of us, it is foolish to believe we will be outstanding at everything.

This is the toughest part. Once you accept this with humility you acknowledge who you truly are. Now, you can focus on sharpening your best asset, your outstanding attribute, your biggest strength. You also focus on you getting better at what you are not very good at without burdening yourself with unreasonable expectations.

Can I get into my dream school by scoring 85-90 odd in my weak section if I can completely break my boundaries in my strong section and score say a 99.8+? If the answer is yes, then I'd bet on that being the most likely way for me to make it.

I also believe it is easier to become world-class in what you are good at. One enjoys doing most things that one is good at. The odds of improving that further are much higher than fixing fully the things we don't really like but are pushing ourselves inorganically to improve upon.

The world is looking for that one special thing about you. Psychologically, you need to focus on your inherent awesomeness first. What will make you stand out? What will give you the ability to shine? The best years of your life need to be dedicated to working on what you are awesome at. Don't let the stigma of your weaknesses drown you down. Your life is going to be memorable based on what you can do and not on what you can't do.

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Curated Story For The Day

Today's curated story is this excellent TEDx Talk in Madrid that supports the above growth story. Eva Katharina Herber gives us some interesting examples but the one that stayed with me was the example of Madonna. She was never the one who possessed the best voice at the time but she didn't get bogged down and became one of the greatest stars on the planet. Do watch it.

Inspiration for the day comes from Pratik Gandhi who has played Harshad Mehta in SCAM 1992 which has now become the highest-rated Indian show ever on IMDB.

'Success kya hai? Failure ke baad ka chapter.' Do read this