Everyone, especially someone trying to start a business, should know what they can and cannot do. This would be identifying your skills and strengths, as well as your weaknesses and anti-strengths (a weakness that you can use as a strength in certain circumstances).

Equally, you should also know what you enjoy doing and what you don’t.

This will help you to target doing the things that will both align with your desires and your skills.

How to identify these and take action

  • Start by making a simple list:
    • Make a list of what you can and cannot do.
    • After you’re done with that, mark the ones in both lists that you enjoy doing.
    • This will leave you with with four categories of skills:
      • Skills you have and enjoy
      • Skills you don’t have but enjoy
      • Skills you have but don’t enjoy
      • Skills you don’t have and don’t enjoy
  • You could also create this in a matrix similar to the Time Management Matrix promoted by Stephen Covey.
  • After identifying your skills and pinpointing the target quadrant (skills you have and enjoy), these will become the target you work toward working with as much as possible.
  • Working in your strengths is where you’ll be able to grow the best.
  • Try to find ways to eliminate (if possible) or delegate (if needed) the skills that you are either not good at or don’t enjoy.
  • There may be some things, especially at first, that you’ll need to do that aren’t ideal, but continually work to work more in your skills and strengths.

Helpful resources

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *