The world of personality research will tell you that when we are stressed, we flip to using the opposite traits of our best self. Someone who is patient may lash out. Someone who is an extrovert will become solitary and seek solace with no one. Someone who is normally not detail oriented will become obsessed with all the details – as if they must have missed something that caused all this stress.
The mind is powerful, sensitive, and contrary under duress. Where are you right now? I’ve shared the 4 psychological stages professional athletes go through when injured and forced off the playing field. I’ve shared how the current pandemic has added to this by revealing 6 stages of psychological and emotional we all can experience during these uncertain times. Sadly, while isolation has wreaked havoc for the last three months, racism has reared its ugly unwelcome head, growing since 2017 when political leaders turned a blind eye towards acts of hatred.
Change – BIG CHANGE – is needed to realize the foundation this country keeps claiming – the equal opportunity for all. For all its claims, history will show that it does deliver – selectively. We now must take a hard look at ourselves and seek out where the gaps of inequality remain and grow. We must all vow to make a difference. So how do we take action when we are stressed, feeling attacked, or scared to venture out of the house? Here’s where your own unique strengths can make a difference.
If you know your strengths – not the muscular ones we can get fit by using in a gym – your mental strengths; then you can start to have an honest conversation with yourself of where you can make the most difference using your natural ways of thinking. In the Clifton Strengths assessment, we are all individually assessed on 34 strengths and in over 80 years of research has never found a duplication in two humans. This means we are all gifted differently and diverse in how we think, innovate, reason, and act.
Our brains are our own unique powerhouse of ideas. While one person may have unique analytical strengths, another has the capacity to link ideas into results. Understanding the gifts your brain is wired to deliver will help you create ideas that no one else could manifest. And when we come together, with our diverse ideas, unique solutions emerge. The most successful organizations have already tapped into this for innovation and profit. Now we need to use this same thinking to innovate for equality and collaboration between people to lift this country back to its original promise. The opportunity for all – not just for some.
Let’s be clear on this. How we are wired to think has NOTHING to do with the color of our skin, eyes, hair, or body type. How we think is unique, how we act can be taught. Racism is taught. Hatred is taught. Do not confuse how we are born to think with how we are taught to act. How we think about information is wired. How we interpret it is learned. How we act is a choice. So, let’s use how we are wired to think, as a collective and beautifully diverse set of humans, to get rid of racism, hatred, and the fear it uses as its power.
If you’d like to know more about how to discover your strengths and make a difference, contact Carole.
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