When trying to increase productivity and improve results, most people mistakenly try to improve their weaknesses. A better, easier and more reliable approach is to strengthen your strengths and outsource your weaknesses.
Trying to strengthen weaknesses only results in a lot of strong weaknesses, which is not the way to have a world-class company. It puts your focus on what you are not good at or don’t enjoy, and a universal truth is “What you focus on expands.”
It’s OK to have weaknesses; everyone does. By the time you were three years old, your brain had all of the synaptic connections it will ever have. Where you’re most densely connected, those are your strengths. Where you’re not densely connected, those are your weaknesses. You are who you are, so don’t try to fix you.
Instead, fix the role you are trying to live into. Take an inventory of everything you need to do to perform your role well. Devote your time and attention to your strengths and talents, and outsource your weaknesses to reliable vendors or employees.
For example, if you need a web site to promote your product, don’t waste your time trying to working in HTML or PHP code if that’s not your strength. Outsource the project to a webmaster and invest your time in what you’re good at, such as creating the content.
To identify your strengths, ask yourself what you excel at doing. Also consider what other people who know you well say that you are excellent at doing.
Finally, consider which things you love doing the most and what tasks you hate. My good friend Jack Canfield, author of The Success Principles, encourages people to focus on their core genius, the thing they do so well and love to do so much that they hardly feel like charging for it.
Once you’re clear on what your strengths are, look at everything else that remains on your list. Your goal now is to outsource the remaining responsibilities to people who claim those tasks as their strengths. Hire people who play at what you have to work at.
Do you agree that you should outsource weaknesses vs. trying to improve them? What challenges do you face when outsourcing weaknesses? Please share your thoughts below. -Alex
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