My Story with CliftonStrengths

I love to tell the story of my fifth wedding anniversary. It was perfect July evening for my wife, Julie, and I to reminisce and revisit some of the places in Seattle that made that evening half a decade ago so special. With the help of a close friend, I secured a reservation at the best table in the nicest restaurant in Seattle. After we ordered our first course, I had the service staff bring the photo album of our wedding to the table (analog not digital!). Much to my surprise, instead of being sappy and sentimental, the prevailing sound from our table was laughter. In that moment Julie and I chuckled as we looked at posed and candid pictures of a wonderful day and made remarks such as, "We thought we were in love that day."

Well, of course, we were in love that day.

But there was a recognition that in five years we knew each other so much better that our first response to our pictures was laughter at the notion that we were in love and knew what we were doing.

Knowing myself professionally has been a similar journey. I remember telling my story to a group of coworkers when I was 25, convinced that I knew how I worked best, what I was good at, my strengths and weaknesses really well. Doesn't a college degree, a couple of good jobs and promotion mean that one knows themselves really well? Not trying to be overly self-effacing, I had a lot to learn.

The first time I really became aware of how much more there was to discover about myself as a professional, as a worker, as a teammate was sharing openly with a team, regularly evaluating my performance with a manager and taking the Clifton StrengthsFinder (www.gallupstrengthscenter.com).

I discovered that there was a difference between what others praised me for being good at and what made me feel strong. I discovered that instead of trying to eliminate my weaknesses, my greatest areas of growth would be in the activities that already came to me with relative ease. I discovered that investing in my areas of great talent would keep me more engaged and, ultimately, more joyful than if was merely trying to get better at the things for which I had little to no talent. I was, and am still, grateful for language in which to discover, better understand and apply my talent and the talent of those around me.

The greatest proof for me on how powerful it was to be on that journey of discovering, understanding and embracing myself as professional is seen in the fact that I had planned to be in that job for one year and ended up staying for 17. It was a journey that included multiple promotions, a graduate degree, success and failure and, most importantly to me, a ton of joy and satisfaction.