When we’re little we learn colors mostly as primary colors – we can point out red, blue, green, and essentially all shades of those colors get the same name. And as we get older, we learn names for colors like beige, lavender, burnt orange. With more specific verbiage we can better articulate what we’re seeing and experiencing. The same is true for our strengths. Growing up we might describe someone as nice, or brave, or as a leader, hey we still might use those words. But when we are able to tap into a vocabulary around our strengths, we can see and understand more depth. We can better understand ourselves and those around us.

In coaching we often talk about strengths. And fairly often newer clients speak in terms of weaknesses – what they’re not good at, where they feel like they need to improve. It’s natural when you’re feeling frustrated in an area you feel you’re underperforming to connect it to where you’re failing, or where you feel you’re lacking, and refer to it as weakness.

When we look to the science of positive psychology, we instead look at what are your strengths, and how can we better lean on those to support you. It’s not that we ignore where you identify as your “weaknesses” it’s just we say it’s more powerful to put our attention on what strengths you’re perhaps underusing that we can step more into here. And, when you’re practicing your strengths you’re more you, and more resonant in your life.

The Science of Strengths

Character strengths are the parts of your personality that are authentically you, and make you feel engaged in your life. Understanding your character strengths can assist you to define who you are and highlight your authentic self. Strengths are the foundation from which positive psychology is built, and the understanding and practice of strengths provide a myriad of benefits for our wellbeing. Research shows that utilizing your strengths can help boost confidence, increase happiness, strengthen relationships, improve work performance, reduce stress, manage problems and accomplish goals.

Positive psychology researchers, Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman, suggest that character strengths are ones that enable people to flourish. They suggest that exercising one’s signature strengths (those strengths which we personally exhibit most of the time, are acknowledged and accepted by us, and are recognized by others as a clear representation of us) generates greater benefits than working on one’s weaknesses. So that whole work hard to shrink your weaknesses stuff is out the window, thank god.

The VIA Institute on Character aims to bridge the science and practice of character strengths to build a better world (casual). The VIA Strengths Inventory was created under the direction of the prominent positive psychologists, Seligman and Peterson, and is highly regarded as a central tool of positive psychology. VIA is a 240-question self-report questionnaire that provides the individual a report of their strengths, ranked from a possible 24 distinct strengths. It uses a 5-point Likert-style to measure the degree to which you agree with questions regarding the 24 strengths. The survey was derived from an extensive review of the literature in philosophy, psychology, religion and culture to identify 24 distinct character strenghts. The strengths listed in the inventory are as follows, split into six categories:

Wisdom

Creativity. Curiosity. Judgment. Love of Learning. Perspective.

Courage

Bravery. Honesty. Perseverance. Zest.

Transcendence

Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence. Gratitude. Hope. Humor. Spirituality.

Humanity

Kindness. Love. Social Intelligence.

Justice

Fairness. Leadership. Teamwork.

Temperance

Forgiveness. Humility. Prudence. Self-Regulation.

The Power in Understanding our Strengths

Research has shown that when you understand and utilize your positive personality traits, you build toward a more fulfilling life with less stress and more resilience. Understanding your strengths gives you the vocabulary to appreciate the best parts of you, and notice and champion the strengths in the people around you. Your character strengths are typically the parts of your personality that others admire, respect and cherish. They are the parts of you that you express when you are the most you. It can be incredibly fulfilling to better get in touch with these parts of you.

In coaching, we identify the coachee’s strengths and then really explore how they’re using those strengths in their lives currently, and expand into what it could look like to use them more intentionally.

The downside of stopping at the identification phase, is that people can become attached to their strengths and start to view from a fixed mindset. They might have a sense of receiving a label – here are my strengths and this is my lot in life. Whereas in having coaching conversations around strengths, you can develop a growth mindset around the potential capacity their strengths hold. The real power in identifying your strengths is then cultivating those strengths and applying them in new ways.

Character strengths are not fixed, they can be developed, nurtured, and grown. When we’re using our strengths we’re more resilient, flexible, happier, and take more responsibility and ownership over what we’re doing and outcomes. One of the big benefits of building your strengths is fostering self-care. Strengths are a pathway to personal well-being, and like going to the gym or learning an instrument, take practice to develop and grow. So let’s do that!

How to Identify & Use your strengths

To take the free Values in Action (VIA) Survey, visit viacharacter.org and click to take the VIA Survey. It will take about 15-20 minutes to complete, although there is no time limit so take as along as you’d like.

If you’re working with a coach, email them your results so you can discuss in a future coaching session. When working with your coach you can make identify them together more clearly, and explore what they mean for you and what role applying these strengths could have in your life.