Second Touchstone of Strengths-focused Coaching: focusing on strengths.

In this short video clip Marcus Buckingham begins to make his case for focusing on strengths. He says that research reveals that 77% of children who bring home a report card with an A and an F grade will receive more attention for failing than for succeeding. In longer sound bites, you can hear him follow up that point with statistics showing that over the course of their lives, the same children will improve more in the area where they received the A than they will improve in the area where they received the F. Let me restate that point. Your potential for growth in your life is in the area of your strengths. Focusing on improving your weaknesses will be frustrating, and bring less growth. Focusing on your strengths will be intrinsically rewarding, and will maximize your growth.

Strengths-focused coaching helps people replace "fix what is wrong" thinking with "maximize what is right" thinking. Strengths inventories like the free VIA are available online, and can help anyone begin to shift their focus. The most transformative way to focus on strengths, however, is to find your own words to describe your own strengths. Strengths-focused coaching guides you to notice your positive experiences, and to articulate the strengths you were using during those moments. By taking the reins of our minds, by choosing and creating our own thoughts, we can transform ourselves. We can overcome the negativity bias that 77% of us were raised with.

Cambridge educated and Gallup poll supported, in some ways Buckingham argues more persuasively for a strengths focus than I ever could. Meanwhile my background in superconscious meditation and Yoga deepen and enhance my appreciation for the usefulness of his message. In my previous blog entry I connected the first touchstone of strengths-focused coaching, noticing when your mood lifts, with the Vedic concept of a satvic, a peaceful and uplifted, mental state. The second touchstone of strengths-focused coaching connects to the value of service. Focusing on our strengths gives us the feeling that we may be of use. That is one of the most inherently satisfying feelings a person can cultivate.