Many of you were at the
Fabulous@50 Experience on November 5th, I hope you had fun, I did. This event for
baby boomer women, consumes my time, all year round, almost like planning a wedding. So if I were to count them, I would say I have planned 5 weddings now, oops I am off topic….I am a little ADD. Now is that bad? I guess it depends on how you choose to look at it.
Strengths vs Weaknesses
If you have ever been in a conversation with me you will notice I am easily distracted, probably the reason Wayne Lee has never hypnotized me, I don't stay in any place for long, especially in my head long enough to be hypnotized. One of my best qualities, but also the one I have struggled with, especially in school. And my kids have the same issue, you can just imagine what it is like when the three of us get into a room together….I will leave that to your imagination. There are lots of shiny objects!
When I am working I need complete silence, no radio's, no one chewing food, all those little noises drive me to distraction. I will have to read things over and over again to grasp it. But the great thing about being like this is, I see everything, I am very aware of my surrounding and believe me when you are putting on trade-shows or events, this talent is beyond valuable. My daughter tells me that as a server in a restaurant it has also served her well…a little pun.
In our world of striving for perfection, we often choose to see these things as problems instead of learning to use them to our benefit. I was never diagnosed, but I believe that I have several learning disabilities, and over the years I have managed to create ways for myself to use these so - called issues and have them on my list of strengths instead of weaknesses. You would not want me to be your accountant, but if you want something creative done, I am the one for you.
Are you proud of your disabilities?
I attended the Empower Edmonton Conference and a speaker named Cory Johnson, talked about disabilities. He was born with Cerebral Palsy and told us he was proud to be who he was - and asked us if we were proud of our disabilities. Cory suggested we all have disabilities, there are the ones we were born with, ones we inherit throughout life, one we impose on others and ones we impose on ourselves. He suggests that blame, perfectionism, controlling, manipulation, drug use and not telling the truth are all disabilities we impose on ourselves and others.
Cory says "once we start to realize that these imposed disabilities bring us less, rather that more, we can then understand our true capabilities." Brilliant!
One of the best pieces of advice I ever received, was a speaker named Dan Lok at a Fast Track event about 5 years ago, who gave me permission to focus on my strengths, instead of dwelling on the weaknesses. And as a middle-aged women, this really was a turning point for me. I stopped beating myself up for not being a academic or feeling I needed to be good at everything. I choose to focus on what I was good at, get someone else to do the books, balance the cheque book, do the housework (still working on this one) and do what you are good at!
What are your strengths? If it is vacuuming, give me a call...
Dianna