How are You Built?
A waitress walks into the dining room with a tray of drinks and trips. What is your first instinct?
Do you:
Run over to help the waitress
Pick up the tray, glasses and ice off the floor
Check to see the cause of the trip
Summons a manager to inform him of the situation
Your answer could give you an idea of your internal operating system or in other words, how you are built. In many personality assessments there are four main indicators of your personality type. I use the CliftonStrengths assessment. In it there are four major categories or domains; Relationship Building, Executing, Strategic Thinking and Influencing.
Let's go back to our example above. If you answered:
Run over to help the waitress
You probably feel most comfortable when you are creating connections with people. Relationship building comes easy to you and gives you joy.
Pick up the tray, glasses and ice off the floor
Getting stuff done may keep you energized. You are probably happiest when you can check tasks off your list or happiest when executing a project.
Check to see the cause of the trip
You're likely a thinker. You like to figure things out, to see how things happen and think about what could be.
Summons a manager to inform him of the situation
You like to move people into action. You help others feel like they are heard and they have an important role to play.
Why is this important for you to know? If you are built in a certain way, it energizes you and makes you happy to play in that space. You can choose the types of activities you want to do in your work life and in your personal life too. People are complex so you might fall into more than one category. Knowing you have the opportunity to adjust your business and to participate in more activities that bring you joy is powerful.
Here is an example:
I have a client that is a Fractional CMO. She helps small businesses with their marketing planning. Katharine helped her clients with everything from strategic planning to designing and placing ads on Facebook and more. She shared with me that she didn't love her work anymore and didn't know why. Some days were great, some were just down-right exhausting.
Katharine took the CliftonStrengths assessment and found her Strengths fall heavily in the strategic thinking domain.
She loves strategy. The executing domain was not a Strength. This resonated so much with her, Katharine changed her entire business model to only provide strategic planning and required her clients to assign someone internally or hire someone to execute her plans. She is now thriving and loving her business EVERYDAY!
You can do this too! You have the control over the projects you decide to take on whether you are in corporate America or running your own business. You have the choice to do the things that energize you, reduce doing the things you "have" to do and enjoy your work more.
Really? I can quit working on projects that don't excite me? YES, you can! Here is how:
First off, raise your hand for those projects that you enjoy and get your juices flowing.
Find others that can help you do the things that don't bring you joy.
Hire a VA or delegate items that are tougher for you.
In partnerships, divvy up work based on your natural talent (this works at home too!)
Find an accountability partner that can help you.
Break up tasks that are tougher for you into smaller pieces. For me, 20-30 minute increments work. Do what works for you!
If you are unsure on which domain is strongest for you, take the CliftonStrengths assessment to better understand your natural talents and learn how to enjoy your work every day!
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