Society is not only comfortable with you being average; it
wants you to continue to focus most of your energy and time on fixing what it has determined is broken about you. (p.2) It’s my desire and my passion to help you become more of who you already are — by helping you to understand your unique personal talents and build them into strengths. (p.5) Talents (aka soft skills) are a great equalizer. They are not correlated to your age, race, or economic background...If your family is poor, you still have innate talents. If you’re a minority, you still have innate talents. No matter what your age, you have the ability to develop your unique strengths; developing your strengths is a lifelong pursuit. (p.11) It’s essential that we take charge of our life and learn to leverage our natural talents into strengths. (p.16) Personal strengths are made up of two basic elements: your talents and the amount of time you invest in your talents to develop them into strengths. The development of personal strengths is, ultimately, what you are pursuing; and the mastery of your strengths is a lifelong pursuit. (p.19) The reality is that from the moment of your birth you have unique characteristics that will set you apart from others. (p.22) The reality of life is that your real talents, gifts, abilities and personality are what determine your future success. (p.24) As you begin to discover your talents, it’s important to claim and name them...There is a great deal of power behind giving something a name. (p.36) Naming your talents gives you a language to describe what you know about yourself, and it makes talents real. Naming your talents will empower you. Once you can give your talents a name, you can then begin to invest in developing them into strengths. (p.38) We want to become the person we think we should be. Even worse, we want to become the person we think others want us to be. What you really need to do is just figure out who you are meant to be. You currently possess every quality you need to be successful. (p.39) |
As you develop your talents into strengths, you will begin to see the value of helping others to uncover and discover their natural talents as well. (p. 49)
You have to learn to invest in your natural talents so they become your strengths, and no one is going to do this for you.(p. 54) The ultimate goal of investing in your talents is mastery of your strengths. Investing in anything of value takes time and effort. (p. 56) "Practice and persistence are vital to developing knowledge and skill. The key to success, however, is investing in your natural talents first and developing the skills around your talents. (p. 58) Own your talents so they actually become strengths! (p. 58) No one is going to hold your hand on the path to success! (p. 88) Ultimately you are the sum of your choices and experience. (p. 90) The choices and decisions you're making today shape who you are; both in the near future and throughout your life. (p. 90) You get to determine your definition of success; no one else does! (p. 92) You're most likely to be successful when you're working in your greatest areas of strength. (p. 92) I'ts important to understand how your expectations affect your attitude."(p. 97) Never underestimate the power your attitude has on your achievements. (p. 97) Don't focus on who you aren't; focus on who you are. (p. 98) It doesn't matter what you do; the satisfaction you will receive from serving others will lift your attitude faster than anything I'm aware of. (p. 98) You have within you the ability to be extraordinarily successful. (p. 99) |