Strong Enough

I recently attended a two-day staff retreat at St. Somethingorother out in Bartlett. Our homework for the retreat was to read the book Now, Discover Your Strengths, take the test, do some discovering, and show up in Bartlett ready to share our strengths with the group. I thought the exercise summed me up pretty well, while not reavealing anything earth-shattering. I'm apparently good at talking, be it in front of a group of people or while making conversation with strangers. I can pick up on the feelings of the people I'm talking to, and I try to make them feel good about themselves. I like to root for people, and will celebrate even the smallest victories. Yeah, that sounds right. No big deal.

When it came time to share with the group, I went second (presumably because I am good at talking, could sense that others were nervous about this exercise and wanted to make the experience more positive for everyone). It went as expected-Stephanie's good at talking, ha ha ha. But as the rest of the staff went after me describing their test results, I was surprised to find that their strengths related to their jobs! They were reliable, they liked to cross things off their lists, they liked to find solutions, blah blah blah. I think that, at least in the workplace, I'm good at that stuff too. But unlike my co-workers, my workplace strengths aren't my overall strengths. No, my overall strengths are all about my social life. So all this time, I wasn't just whining when I complained about having to work for a living. I was following my strengths! Apparently I am most suited for a life as a professional party-goer/small-talk-maker/cheerleader. (And all this time I thought my dream job was to be a part-time professional shopper! I was way off.) I think I could get on board with that, if I could just find someone to pay me for it. Let me know if you hear of any related job openings.

P.S. Don't bother mentioning that my strengths are well-suited for a school teacher. I'm trying super-hard to ignore that.