Turn Your Weaknesses into Strengths

Every one of us has an attribute to our characters that we do not like and are constantly trying to change. Sometimes we go to great lengths buying ourselves stashes and stashes of self improvement books, attending seminar after seminar and paying outrageous consultation fees for psychologists, psychiatrists and life coaches just to change and improve ourselves. The desire to be better people, better husbands, better colleagues, and better workers even better employers is natural to us as humans. We all want to change for the better.

At the beginning of last year as I was writing down my affirmation, resolutions and formulating my mission statement for the coming year, I came across one aspect of my character that I had resolved to change five years prior. Every year I had written it as the fundamental issue that had to be attended to, giving it the priority tick every year and yet in all my diaries for the past years it had not only resurfaced every time, but it had retained its position as a high priority issue.

Frustrated at my weakness of talking too much, I listened to tapes of Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar and Kerry Shook about the power of the tongue and yet I did not come close to change and become the person that I had wanted to become. I even got more frustrated as I realized the power that the mouth that the tongue has and the trouble mine was likely to lead me into.

Tired, I said heck, this is who I am and let me not change for anyone. Most people want to change because they want to please someone, fit a certain social status or please their friends. It was only after I had packed all the tapes and books I had bought or borrowed on the subject and put the box away that I discovered the amazing mine of possibilities that this weakness held for me; things that I could do for myself improvement. I discovered that I could take my motivational career to the next step and include motivational speaking to my resume, take up radio, acting and voice acting and voice overs (amazingly most people who talk too much have amazing voices).

Most of us want to run away from who we are because of the belief that that the other side is greener and better that where we are. However the acceptance of who we are is sometimes the only way that we can move forward. Whatever our weaknesses, If we search deeper, there is always an upside to them, things we can use to catapult ourselves into the forward zone.

My friend leading Zimbabwean comedian and actor, Carl Joshua Ncube has always been a character known for his jest and was usually referred to as the class jest. But today, because he has realized the power that he has over people because of his jest, he has created an empire of comedy in his home country with sold out gigs countrywide. As I write this he is embarking on a historic national tour bringing comedy to people who have been worried over the past decade about food and security.

The first step to realizing the power of our weaknesses is by first acknowledging them. If you are a generally weak character admit it. Do not run away and take refuge at the gym, yoga classes or steroids. Rather embrace it and acknowledge it! The fundamental mistake most of us make is closing ourselves from us; away from who we are. That will only lead to further frustration.

Respected life coach, Bob Proctor on the TV program, 'The Secret' narrates the story of one young gay man who came to him frustrated because he had refused to acknowledge that he was indeed gay. As a result, he had a low self esteem and confidence, pulled away from people who showed interest in him which resulted in intense loneliness. The fact that he was regularly picked up on at work and in the streets for being gay before even coming out of the closet, plunged his confidence further down. And yet today because he has embraced himself through Bob's help, today he is an award winning comedian who has made straight people laugh at his queerness. That is an almost rare scenario worldwide.

The moral of this story is that when we choose to embrace who God made us to be, then we open up to the plan that the universe has for us ready to receive with open arms the blessing of God.

The second thing we have to do then is to discover the positive opportunities that our personalities and characters have for us. A friend of mine once complained about his obsession with movies, a rather wild passion that he was afraid was going to become rather addictive. When we sat down and I helped him explore the potential that this love and passion has for him and as we did so we found one. Today he is the movie reviewer for an online publication where he is paid for his 'addiction'.

We have to explore ways with which we can transform our weaknesses into strengths. The perfect example is that show that once aired on Music Television where a gang of professional con-men tired of how they had ruined many people's lives decided to turn their weakness into strength and decided to share with the vulnerable public how they are usually conned. Besides this show fattening their bank accounts I believed it also helped a couple of people avoid losing their wealth to conmen.

The third aspect is using you newly found strength to the best advantage of every human around you. When you do that, your life can move into the forward zone because its power and strength lies not in manipulation of people but in aiding humanity improve itself. We should however understand that even though we should embrace our weaknesses, there are aspects of character that I believe people should deal with and try to change. Such character attributes as gossiping, excessive lying, pedophilia, drug and sex addictions, abusiveness in relationships, quick temper, rape and low self esteem should be addressed and people who have these problems should seek professional help.

The art of turning our weaknesses into strengths requires a high level of discipline and focus. Often times one is tempted to think that hell well his is my old way of life and they are bound to remain the same person they were before. If you want to change your fortunes, develop an art of self discipline that will not allow deferring from the very progress you might have made. Find an accountability partner or practice the Eastern forms of meditation such as Yoga which have been proved to aid the mind focus.

When we look deeper into ourselves, we will find great and amazing people that we have might have never realized were there. We will discover amazing opportunities that may have never opened up for us before. Today embrace who you are and start finding ways on how you can change your life and those of the people around you.