Sunday, May 8, 2011

This may be a bit negative but...

... I wanted to express my disappointment in the StrengthsFinder book/test. I mean it's neat in the sense that it gives you an idea of what you're good at, but after reading the first few chapters and then taking the test and seeing the advice they give I get the sense its all about taking the easy way out so that failure is less likely to occur. For example:
  
Don’t over-invest in losing causes. Your natural inclination to see the best in people and situations can create a blind spot that will keep you from moving on to more opportune situations.

     I can't see anyway of making that statement acceptable. The author implies, in the beginning of the book, that the countless hours he spent practicing basketball were wasted because he didn't make the team. What an awful attitude to have! If all we ever do is what we're good at then there's no room for growth. It's adversity that pushes us to improve. Perseverance and endurance in the face of difficulty and opposition are what makes us better people, not taking the path of least resistance.
     Maybe I missed the instructions on what we were supposed to take away from this test, but I sure hope it was just supposed to be a look at our strengths and not a comment on what we're to do with them. Because I couldn't disagree more with the majority of what I'm reading. It's gettin' me all worked up!

8 comments:

  1. I haven't read the book but I took this test about a year ago. I still need to do it now. Anyways, I think from this test we can see the gifts and strengths God has blessed us with and with that be more mindful of how God can use those gifts. I agree with you though that we should definitely not ignore the things that we are not as good at but continue to work on them. I think as we share our tests with one another it will be cool to identify the strengths that everyone in the group has and in a way it may help us to understand each other a little more.
    I can't really say anything to you about your frustration with reading the book because I haven't read it for myself. It sounds though that what you are frustrated about seems appropriate.

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  2. you should call the author and tell him the countless hours he spent writing the book were wasted because its a bad book. hahahah jk. maybe i would suggest just not looking into the details but try and get a really vague interpretation of your strengths?

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  3. Interesting. Playing the devils advocate, I'd also like to say that aren't we supposed to embrace our weaknesses, so that in them Christ may be our strength?

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  4. I think the whole baseball thing may be an attempt to convey the message that we have strengths and we have weaknesses. We will most likely be most successful(not monetarily) and be more fulfilled concentrating on strengthening our "strengths" then trying to work on our weaknesses. I am pretty decent at some things and I am horrible at many others so it would be silly to think that I would have great success in something horrible-therefore, why would I work on concentrating my time, effort and passion into something like that?.... Good post, though, bro! I agree with the overall theme that the book is a bit negative, though.

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  5. I agree that his statement is negative... but I get his point... The idea I think is that you shouldn't follow a dream that may be unrealistic (for ex... being a movie star, which may jeopardize your well being, family, etc...) if that Is his point... If it isn't, then I agree with you, off the bat, I get the impression that he is this pessimist, and one of those "the end justifies the means" people as he makes people sound like objects we must use to get ahead in the statement above

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  6. I am like ashley and haven't done it yet, but I wanted to affirm your voicing of your opinion! I don't know what the book is about, really, but I do know that it is important to play your strengths in life, in general, because people usually try to better their weaknesses instead of using their strengths. this isn't to not glorify Christ in weakness, but are we not always weak, even in our strengths? I think so. especially when compared to Christ as Perfect. should we not also use the gifts He has given us and put those to good use? This book, I'm guessing, is to point the taker in the direction of those strengths, or as Christians call them, gifts. : ) I do agree that the author should not have given up on basketball because he didn't make the team, unless his sole purpose in playing was to make the team. things we enjoy that we are not, per se, good at are called hobbies. : ) I have a ton of them and I agree whole-heartedly that one shouldn't just participate in things they are good at. for one, we can't all start off as prodigy children. and two, that's where you build character. thanks for posting, ryan. : )

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  7. the test was a bit challenging for me too, just because I don't like defining people into categories based on questions that are so vague. I agree with you that only focusing on strengths, and not working through weaknesses, is not really healthy growth or progression. However, I think we should also remember that this book is solely a strength finding test, so we can look at it primarily for that. ya know? I don't know if i'm making sense.

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  8. i don't know, ryan. focusing on our weaknesses seems completely against the teachings of scripture in my opinion. it's easy to move into pride or boastfulness when we look at our strengths, but if we don't, it's a good thing--embracing gifts we've been given. i hope we can hang at a lunch soon, ry!

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