“Strengths are not activities you’re good at, they’re activities that strengthen you. A strength is an activity that before you’re doing it you look forward to doing it; while you’re doing it, time goes by quickly and you can concentrate; after you’ve done it, it seems to fulfill a need of yours.” says Marcus Buckingham (an author and a strength strategist).

By strengths, we mean activities that meet the following criteria:

1. You are great (not just good) at it;

2. When thinking about the task, you are excited — you anticipate the activity;

3. When doing the task you find it easy to concentrate and get absorbed in the activity, even losing track of time;

4. Once the task is completed, you have more energy than before.

If the majority of your job involves activities that are your strengths, you are much more likely to:

1. Turn out stellar performance

2. Enjoy what you’re doing

3. Be intrinsically motivated

4. Be happier and more pleasant to work with

In a study by Harvard Business Review, it was noted that while people remember criticism, awareness of faults doesn’t necessarily translate into better performance.

It was further discovered that knowing your strengths offers you a better understanding of how to deal with your weaknesses — and helps you gain the confidence you need to address them.